Deadly Connortations
by Vlad-the-Impish
Summary: XOver with Angel, set the summer before Buffy Season 7beginning of Angel Season 4. After Angel throws him out of the hotel, Connor needs to get revenge and his 'father' Holtz taught him that the best way to hurt people is to take away the things they lov
1. Chapter 1

Title: Deadly Connor-tations 1/?

Author: VladtheImpish

Rating: Nothing worse that the show(s)

Disclaimer: I do not own the characters depicted in this story, nor will I make any money from writing it. Please don't sue; I'm really not worth it.

Summary: X-Over with Angel, set the summer before Buffy Season 7/beginning of Angel Season 4. After Angel throws him out of the hotel, Connor needs to get revenge and his 'father' Holtz taught him that you take away the things they love the most. Meanwhile in Sunnydale, Buffy, Xander and Dawn are still playing Happy Families but Xander wants them to stop playing and Buffy may finally be on the same page. When Connor captures Buffy, Xander and Angel must work together to find her before it's too late.

Warning: Character Death(s)!!

Deadly Connor-tations

**Warehouse District,  
Los Angeles,  
20th August 2002, 22:30.**

Connor rammed the stake into the fleeing vampire's heart, stopping it from jumping from the warehouse roof to safety. He watched as the dust blew away, swirling through the air majestically, a far cry from its former incarnation.

He had been lucky once again, as neither Fred nor Gunn had been near when he'd interrogated the vampire, finding out that she had indeed witnessed his confrontation with his 'father' and the aftermath of it. Had either one been with him, they would have found out his part to play in his disappearance, which would only have put them in danger.

He had no quarrel with either one, and in fact had started to appreciate their company, although he'd never voice such a thing aloud unless under extreme duress. However, no matter what his feeling were for the pair, if they discovered the fate he'd befallen their friend, he would have no choice but to kill them. He knew that killing a human would feel different to killing a demon, and would also be something he'd have to live with for the rest of his life, but it was a burden he was willing to pay to ensure his freedom. Self-preservation came above and beyond his conscience.

"Connor! Where you at man?"

Gunn's voice echoed through the night, indicating that he and his girlfriend Fred had finally caught up with him. Once again Connor found himself slightly surprised by their speed; he was far superior to them physically, the only plus to such an ungodly parentage, but they were never that far behind him. That boded well when they patrolled the city, but not so much on occasions like tonight.

Having spotted them walking on the pavement below him, he jumped from the roof and landed almost silently beside them, only the slightest thump from his impacting the ground giving away his position. He would have to practise that more, knowing that any sound he made put him at risk.

"I'm here," he stated simply.

Startled, the pair spun round quickly, Gunn readying his homemade axe while Fred took up a defensive stance with a sword. He could easily see several flaws in the way they stood, and would try to help them correct their stances at a later date. Despite his earlier thoughts, he didn't want either one to die unless absolutely necessary.

"Damn man," Gunn commented, "how many time I gotta tell you not to do that? You nearly gave me a heart attack!"

A slight smirk appeared on Connor's otherwise stoic features. "Sorry."

"Sure you are," he replied doubtfully.

"Can we go back now?" Fred asked, as she shivered slightly. When they had left the hotel just before sunset it had still been relatively warm, so she had neglected to put on a jacket. Now that the sun had been down for a few hours the chill of the night air was nipping at her. Connor saw her shiver and, without thinking about it, took his jacket off and handed it to her. "Thank you Connor, at least there's one gentleman between the two of you."

Connor spun round to prevent Fred from seeing him blush slightly at her comment. He didn't know why he made such a gesture, although his dad had always taught him to treat women with respect. At the time he didn't understand what his dad meant, being as there were no human females in Quortoth, but now that he lived on Earth he did and was once more grateful for his dad's wisdom.

"Hey now," Gunn said feigning indignation, "I'd've offered you my jacket if I'd been wearing one."

"I know Charles." She went on tiptoes and kissed him softly. "Lets go home."

He nodded once and, after wrapping his arm around Fred's shoulders, turned in the direction of the hotel, Connor following behind.

Hyperion Hotel,  
Los Angeles,  
23:55.

Gunn was sat behind the reception desk in the lobby, watching the small colour TV Cordelia had installed to keep her occupied when she manned the phone, winding down from their patrol/wild goose chase. He was frustrated that yet another lead on Angel's whereabouts had dried up, as each time that happened it just made it that much harder to maintain the belief that he'd return or that they'd find him.

What made it worse was that they had no idea where Cordelia was either; her car had been found abandoned on the freeway, with witnesses reporting that someone fitting her description had been driving it when all of a sudden she simply disappeared. How there hadn't been a major incident that night was beyond him. The few leads they'd found on the ex-cheerleader's whereabouts had all lead back to that point, so they had decided to concentrate on finding Angel first, hoping that his eventual input could help find their other missing friend.

What with Lorne having moved to Vegas to make it big, and Wes's continued distance due to their treatment of him during the whole baby-snatching affair, it had just been the three of them, only two really if you took into account Connor's lone wolf act. In his weaker moments, Gunn was glad for it as it meant he had plenty of quality time with Fred. He felt bad whenever he thought that way almost immediately afterwards, but couldn't deny that their relationship wouldn't be anywhere near as strong as it was had everyone been around the last few months.

He loved her; it was as simple and as amazing as that. What made it all the more special was that she felt the same. They both knew as much about each other as they did themselves, and for that reason alone the last few months would always be looked upon by him as some of the best of his life, despite everything else that was going on.

His concentration had lapsed from the TV during his internal monologue, but was quickly brought out of it as he heard the sound of the large double doors opening. Turning, he saw a sight he hadn't expected to see in a long time; Wesley helping a very pale and weak looking Angel through the entrance. Quick as a flash, he was up and walking over to the pair, and helped Wesley seat Angel on the circular couch situated in the middle of the lobby.

"What the hell happened to him?" he asked his former friend and colleague.

"Have you ever wondered what a vampire would look like if they didn't feed for months? You need wonder no more."

On closer inspection, Gunn could see that Angel's body was thinner than the last time he'd seen him, as though his body had been eating itself, which it probably had. His skin was almost translucent and, in his mind at least, looked like the dead body it really was. He often found it hard to remember that Angel was a vampire, given the way he acted, so it was a shock to see the evidence so clearly.

"Where did you find him?" Gunn asked.

"I found him on the ocean floor three miles out from the pier, trapped in an iron coffin."

"Any idea who put him down there?"

"I wouldn't have found him otherwise Charles," Wesley answered, his tone condescending and sarcastic, a far cry from the slightly bumbling person Gunn had been when they first met. "It was one of Holtz followers, Justine, and…"

"… Me."

The two men turned to see Connor standing around ten feet away from them, a dead look on his face and a sword in his hand.

"You?" Gunn said, shocked at the turn of events. "We spent months following lead after lead, trying to find where he was and all the time it was you? How the hell could you do that to your own father!"

Gunn's voice had steadily grown in volume, as the reality of the situation sunk in. things started to make more sense to him now; how Connor always looked slightly apprehensive every time they discovered a possible lead on Angel's whereabouts, how he had always managed to get there before them and either state that the person wasn't there or if it were a demon killed it 'in self defence'. He'd deceived them all and would have done so forever had Wesley not found Angel on his own, something Gunn didn't think he'd do given how they'd all treated him.

"He isn't my father!" Connor roared, his whole persona changing from the somewhat shy boy they'd grown accustomed, to the dangerous man he truly was. "My father is dead, murdered by that thing!"

Connor's anger for the souled vampire reached critical mass, his mere presence acting like rocket fuel for his rage, and he launched himself forward, flipping over Wesley and Gunn with the intention of taking Angel's head off his shoulders, only to find him nowhere in sight.

Spinning round, Connor was suddenly caught by a vicious uppercut, which sent him flying through the air into a marble pillar. His head impacted violently against it and was rendered unconscious instantly, and his body crumpled bonelessly to the ground.

Angel stood unsteadily, both Wesley and Gunn looking at him in shock, wondering how he'd been able to do what he did in such a frail condition, and looked at his son for several moments.

"You're grounded," he said before his eyes rolled up into his head and he followed his son into unconsciousness.

**Connor's Bedroom,  
21st August 2002, 10:00.**

Angel stood in his son's room, thankful for the room's position away from the morning sun, as there were no curtains at the window. Connor had taken them down the first night he'd stayed, stating he needed to have a view of the outside.

He felt much better now than he did when Wesley found him, not that he could have felt much worse. Donations from Wesley, Gunn and Fred boosted his vampiric healing abilities, human blood being the most effective in that department and especially when it was straight from the source. Several bags of medical blood Gunn managed to requisition from the hospital had also helped, and now he felt much more like himself.

As he looked down at the sleeping form of his son, he wondered why he didn't feel anger for what he'd done to him. He'd basically condemned him to a fate worse than death, as no one knew whether a vampire ever truly died from hunger, and yet he couldn't bring himself to hate him for it. No matter what he'd done, Connor was his son, and for that reason alone he would never see him as anything else.

That in itself held problems, as no matter what he felt for Connor, he was and is a danger to himself and the other occupants of the hotel. He'd also have it in for Wesley, as he had been the one to rescue him. He couldn't in good conscience purposefully put them at risk of harm or worse just because he couldn't bring himself to punish the boy.

They'd injected Connor with enough sedatives to keep him out for the time being, which meant he didn't have to come to a decision straight away, but he knew he couldn't put it off forever and he couldn't see he had many choices.

Keeping him at the hotel was obviously out, as the other would leave if he did and that wouldn't be fair to them. They couldn't keep him sedated or chained up, even if it did seem fitting, as they wouldn't be able to keep him like it forever.

Killing him wasn't an option, not only because he was his son but also because he was human and that was a line Angel didn't want to cross. He was willing to kill humans in a life and death situation, but to kill Connor would mean committing an act of murder, and he already had too many of those on his conscience.

Handing him over to the police like they'd done Faith wouldn't work, as he'd done nothing that a human court could convict him of and, unlike the raven-haired Slayer, he didn't feel any remorse for what he'd done. Even if they did, there wasn't a prison in the world that could keep him contained if he didn't want to be there.

That left kicking him out, which had its own risks involved, especially to Wesley who didn't live in the hotel.

After taking one final look at his son, Angel turned and left the room, locking it behind him.

The moment he'd heard the door close, Connor opened his eyes. Living in a Hell dimension for most of his life had benefits, and a highly developed metabolism was one of them. He wasn't fully over the effects of the sedatives they'd given him, but he was aware enough to know that this was his best chance to escape.

He'd almost found it impossible to keep his breathing even and his heart rate down with that abomination in the same room as him, his desire to rip the demon limb from limb an intoxicating proposition, but knew that to kill him would be showing mercy, and he was feeling anything but merciful to the creature who murdered his dad. That was why he'd decided to entomb him forever at the bottom of the ocean, where he would be alone with nothing but memories to sustain him.

That wouldn't work a second time, as he knew they'd be prepared for it, so he once again went to his dad's teachings for the best course of action. Holtz had taught him many things, but the most pertinent thing right now was that to truly gain vengeance you must take away the thing they cherish most.

As he packed his few possessions and opened the window to the outside world, he smiled ferally at the prospect of taking away the thing his 'father' cherished most. He had spent the last few months learning as much as he could about Angel, his dad instilling in him that information was one of the most powerful weapons he could possess, and he had a good idea of how to truly hurt him, especially given that Cordelia was no longer around.

After taking one final look at the room he had begun to think of as home he climbed out of the window to freedom.

**Summers Residence,  
1630 Revello Drive,  
Sunnydale,  
22nd August 2002, 18:15.**

Xander got out of his car and walked towards Buffy's house with an added spring in his step, a sure sign that it was a Friday. While Saturday mornings had long held the position as his favourite time of the week, Friday evenings had slowly but sure crept up the poll and was now the front-runner, all thanks to the residents of 1630 Revello Drive.

Being the only one to own a car, and the local DMV revoking Buffy's own driver's licence after she'd managed to total the rental she'd had without leaving her driveway, meant that Xander had become the designated driver of the Scooby Gang. In thanks for chauffeuring Buffy and Dawn to work and school respectively, they would treat him to a pizza and a movie of his choice every Friday night.

With Willow in England with Giles, only himself, Buffy and Dawn remained of the Scooby Gang. There are times when he was glad of that fact, as it meant that he got to have them to himself for a change. It was selfish to the extreme, but without any other distractions, his relationship with the two sisters improved greatly.

With Dawn, he had gone from her crush to her big brother/mentor, talking to her with a frankness and maturity that was sometimes lacking from her sibling. He wouldn't dumb down or sugarcoat things for her, and he expected the same from her.

This meant that Dawn felt more comfortable talking with him about her problems than she did Buffy, because with him she could actually discuss the problem at hand instead of listening to Buffy lecture her on what she should do.

With Buffy, they had finally been able to clear the air on all the issues between them they had been bottling up over the years. No subject was taboo and, instead of rehashing the same old arguments, they had both agreed to sit down and act like the adults they were.

Clearer heads, along with the advantages of time and hindsight, had allowed them to finally agree on most things, and what they couldn't agree on they had agreed to accept. Because of that, they now had a far more solid foundation to their friendship, and were closer than they'd ever been.

For Xander that was a double-edged sword, for while he revelled in the closeness they now shared, he was also finding that old feeling and emotions were returning. He had stopped thinking of her as more than a friend during the whole Angelus saga, and it came as a surprise to him when those thoughts returned.

To begin with he thought it was due to having no one else in his life, but when he turned down the advances of an attractive and interesting woman who worked in the admin department of his company, he realised that there was more to his feelings than that.

He wasn't worrying about it though, as he knew that if things were to develop between them they will of their own due course. He knew that he could and would accept it if she didn't reciprocate his feelings; he wouldn't like it of course, but he could accept it.

Eventually.

He shook his head to clear his thoughts as he stepped up to the front door, knowing that this was not the time to think about that, as he needed to keep his thoughts on a purely platonic level, at least for the moment. When he noticed that the door was slightly ajar, something neither woman would do given the town they lived in, he went from calm to concerned in half a heartbeat. The chances of it being a demonic problem were slight due to it still being daylight out, but there were still human evils in the world and he had seen and done too much not to take things seriously.

Knowing that something was wrong, and not wanting to be caught unprepared, Xander rushed back to his car, popped the trunk, and reached in for his favourite patrolling weapon. It was a modified sledgehammer, with crosses engraved into the head, the lords prayer carved into the handle, and the butt of the handle sharpened to a fine point. He called it MC Hammer because no demon could touch it, to the bemusement and frustration of Dawn and Buffy. Once he felt properly equipped, he went back to the front door and slowly opened it, trying to make as little noise as possible.

As he walked inside, he found that he couldn't hear any of the noises he would expect, in fact the house was deathly quiet and that worried Xander further. Turning into the living room, he noticed a foot sticking out from the side of the couch and rushed over to find Dawn lying unconscious on the floor, a large bruise marring her otherwise beautiful face and a gash in her side that was slowly bleeding out.

The thought that he should call an ambulance left his mind as soon as it arrived; too many questions would be asked that he had no answers for, and with it still being daylight outside they wouldn't believe the usual 'gang members on PCP' story so often used. Instead, he rushed into the kitchen and retrieved the extensive first aid kit they had for after patrol injuries and began tending to her wound.

As he was applying the finishing touches to the bandage, Dawn's eyes fluttered open and she emitted a pain filled groan.

"Dawn?" he asked loudly, wanting her to focus on his voice. "Dawn, can you hear me?"

"… Xander?"

He breathed a sigh of relief on hearing her speak, even if it was mumbled and barely above a whisper, knowing that she was not as badly injured as he'd originally feared.

"It's me Dawnie," he said soothingly, "you're safe now."

"… Buffy… where…?"

Not knowing what to tell her, Xander decided to ignore her semi-coherent question completely for the moment.

"Hush now Dawn, let me check you for a concussion then I'll help you onto the couch alright?"

Not giving her a chance to reply, he checked her eyes and asked her the general questions, what day was it etc. Once he was as sure as he could be that she wasn't suffering from a concussion, he gently picked her up and positioned her on the couch.

He stepped back and saw that she was out again, but decided not to wake her, as she no doubt needed to rest. Instead, he covered her with the throw from the recliner and went to check the rest of the house, mindful to close the front door and lock it as he passed by, just to be on the safe side. Vampires may need an invite, but other demons and the less desirable elements of humanity did not.

A thorough search proved fruitless, as there was no sign of Buffy or anyone else, although there were signs of a struggle upstairs, the worst being Buffy's bedroom where the window was completely smashed in. There were several dents in the walls in her room and on the landing, meaning that Buffy put up one hell of a fight. That thought comforted him somewhat, that whoever had come in and done this didn't have it easy, but the fact remained that she must have lost, as there was no way she would have left her sister the way she was otherwise.

Going back into the living room, he spotted that Dawn was awake once more and had changed her position on the couch so that she was in a more vertical position.

"How you feeling Dawn?" he asked, realising how stupid that question was and yet unable to think of anything else to say.

"Like I got hit by a truck, then a minivan."

Xander suppressed the smile her comment evoked. Now was not the time for mirth. "What happened?"

"I'm not sure, it was pretty much a blur," she held her head for a moment, which was enough of a reminder for Xander that she was in pain for him to go into the first aid kit and pass her a couple of painkillers.

"Do you need any water?"

She shook her head slightly and winced as she did so, and then popped the pills into her mouth and began to chew them, just as he sister did when she could be persuaded to actually take them. She grimaced at the taste, but knew it would help get the medication through her system quicker and that was far more important to her at the moment.

"I was sitting here finishing my homework when I heard a crash upstairs. Then there were sounds of a struggle, so I went upstairs to see what was going on and found Buffy duking it out with a boy around my age, pretty lanky looking with longish brown hair. The sun was up and shone in through the window on the two of them, so I knew he wasn't a vampire, but the fact Buffy was having trouble meant he sure wasn't your everyday human."

She paused as another throb of pain went through her head before continuing. "Suddenly he got in a hard blow to her head, which knocked Buffy out, and he then turned his attention to me, so I made a run for it downstairs. I managed to get to the bottom before he caught up with me and after he easily blocked my attempts to hit him, he backhanded me into the living room. I must have knocked my head on something because the next thing I know you're here."

She looked down at her hands for a moment before she met his gaze. "He took her didn't he?"

"Yeah," he replied sadly, as he knew it was pointless to lie, "but I promise you we'll find her and make the son of a bitch pay for ever setting foot in your house."

"How are we going to do that?" she asked, knowing that anything able to beat a Slayer would be extremely difficult for them to combat alone.

As he was about to answer, something caught Xander's eye and he turned to the coffee table. There, on top of Dawn's homework, was a small white envelope. Using it as an excuse not to answer Dawn's question, knowing she wouldn't have liked his answer anyway, he picked it up.

He didn't recognise the handwriting, but he did recognise whom, or rather what, it was addressed to.

Angelus

Ripping the envelope open, not caring that it wasn't addressed to him, he found a note, written in the same hand. Absently he thought it looked a little like calligraphy.

Hello 'father',

You took the most important thing in my life, so I've decided to return the favour.

However unlike you, I shall give you a sporting chance to rescue her.

You have until sunrise.

Stephen.

Xander crumpled the note into a ball and threw it across the room, once again cursing the souled vampire's existence.

Whether this kid Stephen was Angel's son or not Xander didn't know or care, although he always thought that a vamp's 'little soldiers' didn't work. What he did care about is that Buffy's life had been put in danger once again because of him, albeit indirectly.

"If I have to do it with my bare hands, Deadboy's turning eunuch after this is over," he growled, a determined look in his eyes.


	2. Chapter 2

Title: Deadly Connor-tations 2/?

Author: VladtheImpish

Rating: Nothing worse that the show(s)

Disclaimer: I do not own the characters depicted in this story, nor will I make any money from writing it. Please don't sue; I'm really not worth it.

Summary: X-Over with Angel, set the summer before Buffy Season 7/beginning of Angel Season 4. After Angel throws him out of the hotel, Connor needs to get revenge and his 'father' Holtz taught him that you take away the things they love the most. Meanwhile in Sunnydale, Buffy, Xander and Dawn are still playing Happy Families but Xander wants them to stop playing and Buffy may finally be on the same page. When Connor captures Buffy, Xander and Angel must work together to find her before it's too late.

Warning: Character Death(s)!!

Hyperion Hotel,  
Los Angeles,  
19:30.

Fred was alone in the hotel, given that the others had gone out to either look for Connor or patrol, and was actually enjoying the silence. While she would be the first to admit that living in a cave by herself for the best part of five years was not the most healthy of situations, she had enjoyed the quiet that came with it and found herself missing it now she was back on Earth.

She loved Charles dearly, but over the last few months they had rarely done anything without the other and she was starting to miss having time to herself, but hadn't been able to think of a way to say anything that didn't sound like she didn't want him around.

Their relationship was going strong, the almost undivided attention they could give to one another helping a great deal, but Fred sometimes thought that the foundations weren't quite as strong as they should. Neither one really brought up issues that might agitate the other, something she knew wouldn't last forever, and she was starting to think that once they did, the closeness they have would disappear into nothingness. She just hoped it was her insecurities and inexperience in relationships that fuelled her thoughts and not something more substantial.

Another advantage of being alone was that she could think about what Connor had done, without hearing the viewpoints of the others. Gunn's pride was colouring his judgement, Angel was subtly defending his son as any father would, and Wesley was trying not to rub it in that after all they had done to him he had come through and saved the 'man' that had wanted to kill him. That didn't exactly present her with an unbiased environment to understand everything that happened.

When they had all sat down last night after sedating Connor last night, Wesley had told them what he'd gotten out of Justine during their 'discussion'. She told him how Holtz had asked her to kill him with an ice pick in order make it look like a vampire had drained him, or more specifically that Angel had drained him. She also explained her role in ensuring that helped Connor not only came to the wrong but desired conclusion, but also to exact his revenge, keeping quiet about the truth behind Holtz's death and ensuring that he didn't start to show compassion for his father.

In that respect, knowing the reason why Connor had done what he'd done, Fred wasn't sure she could blame him; she didn't, however, condone the way he went about it.

While Angel might be his biological father, Holtz was his dad. Holtz had raised Connor as if he were his own, and by all accounts raised him well. Quortoth didn't exactly look like the ideal place for children to grow up, and yet Connor was a polite young man, sometimes bordering on shy, and that must have been due to Holtz, whether they liked to admit it or not.

The whole situation was a prime example that nothing in life was ever black & white, only shades of grey.

Connor had believed, and no doubt still does believe, that Angel had murdered his dad and therefore in his eyes acted accordingly, something that many would understand and even agree with, even Angel himself. After all, Angel had tried to kill Wesley in his hospital bed for his part in Connor's disappearance, despite knowing the reasons why. When it had happened, Fred had been shocked to see Angel acting so out of character, but hadn't blamed him for feeling that way. She'd even agreed that Wesley should keep away from the rest of the group, albeit more to ensure both his and Angel's safety than because she thought he should be ostracised. She wasn't the type to hold different people to different standards, and she wasn't about to start now.

What she did have a problem with, however, was how Connor had been lying and deceiving them all this time, making them believe he had wanted to find Angel as much as they did and had no idea where he was. Night after night they would go out in search of clues about what happened to Angel, and every time they thought they'd discovered something that would bring them one step closer to the answer, Connor would always find a way to ruin it, mainly by killing the demon they were to question and state it was self-defence.

Looking back on it, herself and Charles should have realised something was amiss, but with both Angel and Cordelia vanishing on the same night, and Wesley having nothing to do with them, they were probably desperate to keep the remnants of their group together, and overlooked the sometimes transparent excuses the young hunter would provide for why their leads went up in smoke, sometimes literally.

Something she was certain of was that Connor wasn't a threat to her or the others, with the obvious exception of Angel. Dozens of opportunities to kill them had presented themselves to the young man over the last few months and he hadn't taken them, in fact he had saved both herself and Charles on more than one occasion when he could have just stood back and let them die.

She knew that Charles and Wesley thought otherwise and wanted him out of the hotel, and if possible out of their lives also, but despite what he'd done to Angel he had been nothing but nice to her the entire time she had known him and had no reason to think that would change.

How they would deal with everything was uncertain, but before they could decide anything Connor had to be found first. She just hoped he was okay.

The shrill sound of the telephone startled her out of her thoughts, and she quickly grabbed the receiver before it finished the first ring.

"Angel Investigations, we help the helpless," she said, unknowingly imitating the way Cordelia always answered the phone.

"Um, hi, er, is Angel there?"

The young female voice on the other end of the line surprised Fred, and it took her a moment to respond. "I'm sorry, he's not here at the moment, can I take a message?"

"I kinda need to speak to him urgently, it's to do with Buffy."

"Buffy Summers?" she asked.

"Yeah, I'm her sister Dawn. I really need to speak with him," she said, the urgency in her voice clear.

"He's out looking for his son at the moment, can I help?"

There was a pause before she answered, and when she did it sounded like she was repeating something she'd been told to say. "His son is in Sunnydale; he's just kidnapped Buffy and threatened to kill her at sunrise unless he can find her." There's another pause and this time Fred could hear Dawn speaking to someone on the other end of the line. "Xander says to meet him at the Welcome Sign at 10:30 or don't come at all."

Fred couldn't place the name Xander, but she could tell by the tone they had used when relaying the information to Dawn that they were serious. "I'll contact him and we'll be there as soon as we can."

"Okay, bye."

"Bye."

**Alibi Room,  
Sunnydale,  
20:00.**

Xander walked into the demon bar exuding danger and confidence, something that every occupant in the place could sense. He'd come to kill two birds with one stone; put the word out about Buffy and to let off some steam before he met Angel and the others, something he was extremely unhappy about. That and he always got a thrill out of making Willy squirm as much as possible with as little physical contact as possible.

Unbeknownst to Buffy and the others, Xander had become a frequent visitor to the joint, ensuring he kept abreast of which demons were doing what things in town and in his darker moments to drown his sorrows where no one who knew him would see.

He'd made himself a reputation among the demon community of being firm but fair, a man not to be missed with. His almost supernatural ability to tell whether he was being lied to was almost legendary, as well as what happened to those who lied to him.

The fact that he was, apart from the whole demon-fighting thing, completely human only added to his reputation, as not many people lasted long in their world without any mystical enhancements.

The showdown with Willow, where he'd stood in front of a blast of power that was meant to be the catalyst to ending the world and survived, not once but twice, only helped to further cement his standing; he knew he was considered, at least in local circles, as one of the few 'normal' humans that demons should legitimately fear.

Everyone in town knew not to antagonise him unnecessarily, especially when he came here, as he never came though the door in a good mood.

"What are you doing on our turf bloodbag?" a vampire asked.

Of course, there was always one that was either out of the loop or too dumb to care.

Xander looked at the vampire that spoke up, a fledgling by the looks of it, as though it were something he stepped in. His steely gaze pinned the demon to the spot, giving him the opportunity to remove the vamp's hand from his shoulder where it had grabbed him so he couldn't walk past.

"Dusting you," he replied simply.

Before the vamp had a clue what was going on, there was a stake though its heart. Xander once again began walking up to the bar, this time through the vamp's billowing remains. The patrons started moving around him like water, to ensure they didn't become victim number two.

Xander slapped his hands down forcefully on the bar once he reached it, which caused the nearby glasses to wobble, doing so just to ensure he had everyone's, and Willy's in particular, attention.

"Willy, you have a problem," he said eventually, his voice loud enough for it to carry throughout the bar, but low enough to ensure they had to pay attention to hear him.

"What's that kid?" Willy replied nervously.

Willy knew something was seriously wrong, as the kid never came into the bar in his full hunting gear unless there was big trouble. It was something the other patrons knew also, hence their reluctance to be in his field of vision at the moment.

On the whole the kid was a descent bloke, never starting anything with his regulars for no reason, but when he got that look in his eyes, like he had right now, Willy wanted to be wherever the kid wasn't.

"Someone hurt Dawn," he informed the bartender, his tone indicating his displeasure.

Willy's reaction was immediate, his eyes widened in fear and beads of sweat appeared on his brow. "W-W-Why is that my problem?"

"They also kidnapped Buffy."

The silence that enveloped the bar at his second declaration was absolute. A pin drop would have sounded like an atom bomb detonating the silence was so complete. They all knew however that it was just the calm before the storm.

Everyone knew the Summers girls were Xander's Achilles heel, although no one was stupid enough to actually do anything about it because it was a double edged sword. While having one or both of them in danger made him vulnerable, it also made him as angry as hell, something the locals tried to prevent whenever possible.

The irony was that only Buffy or Dawn had any chance of keeping his temper under control, and given that they'd either witnessed or heard about examples of what happened when he was unleashed, no one really wanted to do anything that prevented them from doing just that.

One example of when that happened was the previous summer during Buffy's absence due to her second death. Dawn had been attacked by an overzealous T'Pau demon one night coming back from a friend's house, and Xander's retaliation had been both swift and brutal in the extreme.

Not only did he destroy the one that hurt her, he destroyed the entire clan, ensuring that not a single T'Pau demon was alive within the town's limits by the time the sun began to rise the following morning.

That night was one of the few occasions when Xander and Spike had worked together willingly, their fondness for the young girl causing them to forge a temporary alliance, and they were a devastating team. The efficient and unrelenting way in which they despatched the clan was almost poetic, and the demon community were glad they hadn't collaborated more often.

Xander was less vicious when it came to Buffy, mainly because he didn't have to be; he knew she could look after herself, and her own formidable reputation ensured that there were no sneak attacks made on her. She was after all the Slayer that not even death could defeat.

That's not to say he didn't dole out his own brand of justice if she did get injured and the guilty party survived the encounter, it was just that he was more business like about it, killing them quickly and cleanly, and did not derive as much pleasure from it than he otherwise would had it been Dawn that was injured.

For something to happen to both of them meant one thing and one thing only; no one was safe until the Slayer was found and the culprit punished, preferably by being eviscerated with something blunt. Willy knew that if Xander thought it would get the desired result, he'd firebomb the entire town without batting an eye.

Everyone knew he had gotten the rocket launcher that took out The Judge a few years ago, and that he had built the bomb that blew up Mayor Wilkins and the old High School, and didn't want him to try and outdo himself on just how much property damage he could cause to get the job done.

"I don't know anything about it kid, I swear on everything I hold dear. But, if I do get any information, I'll call you right away," Willy stammered eventually.

Xander broke off the glare he had been sending Willy's way, the distinctive smell of urine telling him he'd got his point across with the mostly human bartender, and took a step back from the bar before turning round so he could have a word with the customers, as he wanted to ensure they all understood the ramifications of what had taken place.

"Alright," he began, his tone firm but not harsh, "I'll get right to the point. Your sole reason for being right now is to find out where Buffy is and get that info to me ASAP." His gaze hardened and the room suddenly felt a few degrees colder, and several shades darker. "A word of warning; if I find out any locals knew something and didn't tell me, or were actually in on this, before you've dealt with them in house, it'll be open season on all demons, no matter what agreements we'd made previously. The clock's ticking."

Satisfied that his message had gotten across, Xander began walking towards the exit. Halfway there he whipped his hand out and thrust a stake into the recently dusted vamp's sire, who had thought it had lucked out and been missed by the construction worker for not teaching its Childe the rules.

"Tick tock." With his final statement made, Xander walked out.

Sunnydale Welcome Sign,  
Sunnydale,  
22:30.

Xander leaned against the Welcome sign as he waited for Angel to arrive. It hadn't been his decision to call him, Dawn had insisted on it after reading the note and rung herself to ensure it was done.

If it had been up to him, he'd have left Deadboy out of it completely, until he went to deliver what was left of his 'son' to him in a plastic bag, but Dawn wanted him to help and under the circumstances he went along with it.

It wouldn't be so bad if it weren't for the fact he hated Angel's guts.

Xander had taken an instant dislike to the guy the moment he met him, although it was more to do with Buffy's obvious attraction to him than anything else, but at the time it had been enough. He'd soon found more legitimate reasons to hate the guy once he found out he was a vampire, turned by the same bitch that killed his best friend Jesse no less.

His ambivalence to anyone not called Buffy Summers was another factor, as his unwillingness to put himself out to help no doubt cost people their lives. He had ensured that Xander would never like him when he had been reluctant to help him the night of Buffy's first death, unwilling to put his life on the line for the girl he supposedly loved.

There were other things that had helped cement Xander's feelings; Angel's desire to continue his relationship with Buffy after he returned from Hell despite knowing it couldn't happen, knocking him out and leaving him in the middle of the street when he was undercover, almost draining Buffy when he'd been poisoned.

He knew rationally that the last one was as much Buffy's fault as it was Angel's, but at the end of the day Angel's desire to live was once more greater than his love for Buffy and had put her life at risk.

What Xander hated the most about Angel was the way he had eventually ended his relationship with Buffy. He'd finally grown enough brain cells to realise that a relationship wouldn't work between them, but he hadn't made it a clean break and because of that Buffy had never been able to get the closure she needed to move on with her life. The fact he would keep reminding her that he loved her, his altercation with Riley a shining example, only made things worse and stopped her from ever committing fully to anyone else.

It was something he was worried about if he and Buffy ever got together romantically; that she would never allow him fully into her heart because of her unresolved feelings for Angel, and he dreaded what would happen if he ever came back into her life permanently.

A black Cadillac appeared in the distance, and Xander put all thoughts to the back of his consciousness and readied himself for anything as it drew closer. They hadn't had much contact with the LA gang the last couple of years, beyond the occasional visit from the sullen one himself, and if Deadboy truly did have a son, there was the chance that it would be Angelus exiting the vehicle and not his brooding alter-ego, having had his soul screwed out of him once more.

The woman Dawn spoke to on the phone had confirmed Angel had a kid, stating he was out looking for him, making the odds of the curse being broken much shorter, and the need to finally put Angelus back into Hell became much greater.

When it came to the PTB's Champion, Xander found it better to think of Angel and Angelus as separate personalities as opposed to with soul/sans soul, as he had first hand experience that a soul had no bearing on whether someone or something had a conscience.

He was one of the few people in their group that fully realised that Angelus and Angel were separate from each other, although not many people realised this because he hated them both in equal amounts, albeit for different reasons.

The Cadillac finally pulled alongside him and Angel stepped out, along with Wesley and two others he had never met before. He was surprised to see that Cordelia wasn't with them, and made a mental note to ask why once the 'pleasantries' were over.

"Angel."

"Xander."

They looked at each other with equal disdain; it was clear to the others that neither one was happy being in the presence of the other and didn't care who knew it, especially as the one that they cared for the most wasn't present.

"Wow, I'm just feeling the love."

Xander looked over at the new guy who'd made the comment and smirked at him humourlessly, uncharacteristically not in the mood for wisecracks. His usual wit was missing and wouldn't return until Buffy did as well.

"Charles! Hush," the woman standing next to him berated, albeit lovingly. She then came over and smiled at Xander, offering her hand in greeting. "Hi, I'm Winifred Burkle, but you can call me Fred."

Not wanting to antagonise someone who reminded him a little of Willow before the veins and destruction, not to mention his self-taught manners not allowing him to be rude without justification, Xander smiled warmly and took her hand. "Xander Harris, nice to meet you Fred." He turned back to Angel. "No Cordy?" he asked, his tone returning to its previous sub-zero temperature.

He'd have to be blind to miss the way all four of them flinched at the mention of his former girlfriend, or the way they all had trouble looking him in the eye for a moment, and it made him wonder about her absence more than before, as he'd thought it was to do with her not wanting to set foot in Sunnydale again and not anything more serious.

"She's… unavailable at the moment," Wesley replied, Xander noting the raspy tone in the former Watcher's voice, probably connected with the scar he now adorned on his throat. He hated to admit it, but Xander was a little impressed by how Wesley had turned out after leaving Sunnydale, his demeanour now more like it should have been when he first arrived.

Wesley's unconvincing attempt to cover what was truly going on concerning the wannabe actress/seer for the PTB would have been laughable, had it not triggered within Xander a slowly growing concern for her.

Despite their less than stellar end to their relationship, he still held a soft spot for his ex-girlfriend, and would not want anything bad to happen to her. However, while he was pained to admit it, he had to put such concerns aside for the moment, as far more pressing things needed to be taken care of first. Of course the moment they'd dealt with that…

"Right," Xander replied eventually, his tone making it clear to the LA gang that his bullshit detector was fully functioning. "So Angel, while I couldn't care less how it happened, you've somehow got a son who's taken up kidnapping and assault as hobbies. You must be so proud," he taunted.

"Don't start with me boy," Angel growled, unwilling to be spoken to in such a way, especially not by Xander Harris, who seemed to have a natural ability to get on his very last nerve by simply being in sight.

Angel was surprised to find a crossbow aimed at his heart a moment later, not having seen the weapon in Xander's hand before now, nor its movement into position. He'd have to watch himself; Xander had gotten better since the last time they'd met and he didn't have Buffy around to stop the boy from acting on his feelings.

"Dawn's hurt, Buffy's missing, and as far as I'm concerned you're as much at fault as Stephen is, so don't think I won't pull this trigger and dust your sorry ass if you piss me off Deadboy," Xander growled, half tempted to pull the trigger anyway.

Angel suppressed the flinch the mention of the name Holtz gave his son, knowing it was Connor's way of further distancing himself from him. Xander's smirk a moment later proved that he hadn't suppressed it enough, although he was sure the boy didn't know why, and he growled menacingly at him once again.

He really didn't like the boy standing before him, one of the few things he and Angelus were in agreement with, and with everything he'd gone through the last few months he was in no mood to hold back from breaking some bones. He'd kill him outright if it weren't for the fact Buffy would return the favour in kind. Her attachment to Xander only made him dislike the boy more.

"Let's cool the animosity shall we?" Wesley said, stepping between the two. "Right now we have more important things to deal with, namely finding Connor and Buffy."

Xander and Angel stared at each other for a few more moments before Xander lowered the crossbow, which caused the self titled Rogue Demon Hunter to breathe a sigh of relief as he realised he'd placed himself in it's path.

Wesley knew that Xander had as little respect for him as he did Angel, not that he could really blame him given the way he had acted during his time in Sunnydale, and with the way Xander had been acting since their arrival he was uncertain as to whether he'd shoot him or not. The fact he had drawn the crossbow in the first place had quite frankly shocked him, as he couldn't recall Xander being so outwardly aggressive before.

"I've put the feelers out among the demon circles," Xander told them, deciding to get the ball rolling, "so if anyone knows anything I'll be called. So, any ideas on where the kid'll take her?" he asked.

"No," Angel replied, "but he's unfamiliar with the territory so there are a few obvious places he'd use."

"Right, let's get back to Dawn and then we'll start looking."

Not wasting further time in conversing with the new arrivals, and knowing his patience had already been stretched beyond breaking point, Xander turned and made his way to his car, driving off without waiting.

"Man, that dude needs to learn how to lighten up," Gunn commented as they watched Xander peel away.

"I have to say that I always remember Xander as being the happiest of the bunch," Wesley noted, surprised by the younger man's attitude. "I don't remember him being quite as… intimidating either."

"You saw what he wanted you to see Wes," Angel told him, familiar with the Xander they'd just conversed with, "the man that just left is the Xander behind the mask."

"You have some strange friends Angel."

"Xander isn't my friend Gunn, I'd doubt he'd piss on me if I were on fire. Even in the most extreme circumstances he'd barely consider me an ally, and even then only because of Buffy. I have no doubt that he would have pulled the trigger had I pushed him any further, or if you three weren't here to witness it. Hell, he still might if anything happens to Buffy, or if he finds out who Connor's mother is." Not giving the time to comment on his last sentence, he turned and got back into the car. "We better get going, I want to get a good start on tracking Connor before sun up."

The others joined him in the Cadillac and they made their way over to Revello Drive.

**Pier 3,  
Sunnydale Docks,  
11:25.**

Buffy awoke to a massive headache and the humiliation of being beaten in her own home. She could use the fact that he'd surprised her in her defence, but the result remained the same.

By the smell of things she was in or near the docks, but as she tried to move she found she'd been securely bound in such a way that left her no leverage. She hadn't been blindfolded, which was a plus, but the position she was in made it difficult for her to survey her surroundings.

"You're awake at last."

The voice came from behind her, presumably the one who'd taken her. He hadn't talked during their fight, but the voice was young and male which fit the description of her attacker. She couldn't sense him, which meant that he wasn't a demon, but his strength and speed were definitely beyond that of a normal human, especially one of his size and build.

"Who are you? What do you want? Where's Dawn?" she asked/demanded.

"Who I am and what I want is none of your concern. As for your sister, I had no use for her, so I left her behind. I do not believe she will enjoy the headache she will have when she awakens, although she should be happy to wake up at all."

His voice sounded further away and to her right. She was glad that he hadn't taken Dawn too, but was worried that she might be seriously hurt. As soon as she's free of her bonds she'll make him pay for hurting her, if it's the last thing she does.

"I'd say the fact you've abducted me from my home gives me the right to know why you did. If this is your idea of a come on you leave a lot to be desired; I'm not into the rough stuff anymore."

"I do not know what he sees in you."

Now his voice was to her left. It was disconcerting to her that, despite her enhanced hearing and the fact that wherever she was being held was silent apart from their conversation, she was unable to hear him move. She'd heard the venom he used when he said 'he', making her think that he might be doing this to get at someone else, but who?

"Who?"

"My father," he hissed.

His breath on her ear startled her, not to mention it freaked her out that he could get that close without her knowing. She was going to ask more, like whom his father was, but a sudden blow to the back of her head forced her back into unconsciousness.

Connor looked at her slumped form and snorted derisively, unimpressed by the woman that meant so much to Angel. He'd heard of Vampire Slayers from his dad, young women imbued with supernatural strength, speed and stamina, charged with eradicating vampires and other demons from the face of the earth. He'd always imagined them to be mighty warriors in stature, like the Amazons he saw in one of the books Fred gave him to look at.

This 'Buffy' was nothing like that, and while she had been formidable in their fight, had not lived up to his expectations. She had not fought him like it were life or death, which had worked in his favour and enabled him to come away victorious. While he was certain he would have prevailed in either case, had she fought as he did the battle may have gone on longer. He always fought to the death, as he'd had no other option growing up.

None of that really made a difference with what he was to do, in fact made it that much easier. Had she been a more worthy opponent, he might have had reservations on his present course of action, but now he had met her, he just hoped that the next Slayer to be Chosen was more worthy of the title.


	3. Chapter 3

Title: Deadly Connor-tations 3/?

Author: VladtheImpish

Rating: Nothing worse that the show(s)

Disclaimer: I do not own the characters depicted in this story, nor will I make any money from writing it. Please don't sue; I'm really not worth it.

Summary: X-Over with Angel, set the summer before Buffy Season 7/beginning of Angel Season 4. After Angel throws him out of the hotel, Connor needs to get revenge and his 'father' Holtz taught him that you take away the things they love the most. Meanwhile in Sunnydale, Buffy, Xander and Dawn are still playing Happy Families but Xander wants them to stop playing and Buffy may finally be on the same page. When Connor captures Buffy, Xander and Angel must work together to find her before it's too late.

Warning: Character Death(s)!!

Crawford Street Mansion,  
Sunnydale,  
23rd August 2002, 00:45.

As Xander and Angel entered the mansion, Xander was doing his very best not to blow a fuse. He couldn't see why Stephen would use this place to keep Buffy captive, despite the fact that Angel himself had used it at one time. In fact, it was because Angel had used it that he was certain that Stephen wouldn't, given his seemingly all-consuming hatred for his father.

When they had arrived back hom… at Buffy and Dawn's place, Xander had insisted that they explain just whom Stephen was and why he'd decided to get at Angel through Buffy. Angel and the others were reticent to dredge up the recent past, especially as they hadn't really processed everything themselves, but Xander changed tactics and explained calmly that they needed to know more about him to help work out what he might do, and they had eventually acquiesced.

Whilst eating the pizza Dawn had ordered to ensure Xander's stomach wouldn't give away his position during the night, the two Scoobies listened as Angel and the others explained the events leading up to Connor/Stephen's arrival in Sunnydale. Xander's first impulse upon hearing the soap opera that happened to be the last year of their life was to slap them all upside the head; only his own remembrance that it's always easier to see problems when you're on the outside looking in, and Dawn's warning glance as she saw the hard set look settling on his features, stayed his hand and kept him from commenting.

On more than one occasion he would ask Fred to clarify something when he felt that emotions were colouring perception, noting that she seemed to be able to give a more unbiased account of things than the others. He wasn't sure why she seemed to be less emotionally invested than the others, but was glad for it nonetheless, as it meant they had been given as true an explanation of what happened as was possible without Cordelia there.

While he would never describe his ex as tactful, Cordelia was always straight talking and would have given an honest and frank account of what happened. Those who didn't know her as well as he did might perceive her to be biased, but Xander had more than a decade to master the art of reading between the lines when Cordelia talked.

From what he'd been told, he could tell that Stephen, or Connor as they called him, didn't want to be associated with Angel in any way shape or form, which meant that he would steer clear of any place that he would have used while in Sunnydale, as he wouldn't want it to look like he was emulating him. Explaining that to Angel was a little more difficult, however, having already checked Angel's old apartment and the warehouse for Connor's presence.

It hadn't taken Xander long to realise that the former Scourge of Europe didn't have a clue where his son might be, and was grasping at straws. Now there they were, about to search yet another of Angel's former residences, and Xander was close to losing his patience.

It was only his promise to Dawn not to stake Angel unless he was given a legitimate reason to that stopped him from plunging MC Hammer through his chest with all his might, and not even that would save him if they spend too much time chasing rainbows. Dawn had originally asked him to not stake Angel under any circumstances, but he had flat out refused to agree to, in his mind, an absolutely insane suggestion and had eventually hashed out an almost fair concession.

Their experience with Spike had made him swear to himself that he would never agree to such a thing with another vampire ever again, no matter the circumstances, and even though it was Buffy's life on the line, he would not betray his own beliefs. He, very grudgingly, acknowledged the fact that Angel was different to most vampires, and that he could on occasion be of help, but all that meant was Xander wouldn't stake him purely because he felt like it.

"So, do you smell anything or is this yet another wild goose chase?"

Angel growled and muttered something quietly before he answered Xander's question. "Yes actually. I can smell blood; its fresh and human."

"Can you tell if it's Stephen's or Buffy's?" the carpenter asked, knowing that calling Angel's son the name given to him by Holtz pissed him off no end.

"No, there are a lot of different scents in here and I'm having trouble separating them. There's also magic in the air."

"You're not coming on to me are you Deadboy, because I gotta tell you I don't swing that way."

"Can you ever be serious?" he snapped, the emotional turmoil he was feeling over the whole situation making him lose his normal cool exterior.

"You know better than anyone how serious I can be," Xander replied, his tone losing all inflections and reminding Angel once more that he did indeed know how serious Xander could be. "Lets get this over with then; lead on MacDuff."

Angel growled once more before heading off in the direction of the blood he could smell, Xander following a couple of steps behind, a small smile on his face.

**Veritas Cemetery,  
Sunnydale,  
Same Time.**

"You know, I've been doing this for a few years now and I think this is the first time I've actually patrolled a cemetery for vamps."

"Well, there's a first time for everything and there is no better place to break your duck than Sunnydale."

Gunn and Wesley were making their way through the tombstones and crypts of the cemetery, the third one they'd been in since they started their patrol/search for Buffy and Connor.

After they'd arrived at the Summers place and explained the situation as Xander requested, it was decided, mainly by Xander, that they would split up. Fred would stay with Dawn, both to keep her company and to act as their communications centre, as there was a specially installed phone used by Willy and other informants they had in the demon community. Xander and Angel would do the brunt of the search, as they had the most experience of the local area, and that left himself and Wesley with the nightly patrol. They had gone to argue the point, but Xander and Dawn had made it very clear that despite the current situation, they didn't want the local vamps to think they had a free pass to run amok, nor would Buffy had she been there, and they reluctantly agreed.

Given the open animosity displayed between Xander and Angel, Gunn and the others had been reluctant to let them search together, but they had to admit that it made the most sense. Dawn, who like most young people thrown into the demon world acted far older than she really was, had gone so far as to request they promise not to kill each other. Angel had agreed, although his voice suggested that he might not hold himself to it, but Xander had flat out refused, stating that he'd already told her he would never make such promises when it came to vampires, but assured her that he wouldn't do anything unless provoked.

That didn't make him or Fred all that happy, but Dawn seemed to be satisfied and left it at that. Wesley also seemed to relax after Xander had said that, and as he and Wesley left to start their patrol, Gunn had asked the former Watcher why.

"While I might not fully recognise the man we met as the boy I knew," Wesley began, "there are some things about Xander that would never change, his word being one of them. If Xander tells you he will do something, he'll do it or die in the attempt. Also, despite his obvious dislike of Angel, he wouldn't allow his own feelings to jeopardise Buffy's safety. As long as Angel can keep his own animosity towards him in check, there won't be a problem."

"I'm not calling him weak or nothing, but he doesn't really think he could take Angel does he?"

"That would not stop Xander from trying. I too never really saw Xander as a fighter, but he has been doing this since he was sixteen and is still alive, so I do not believe you should count him out."

Gunn had little choice but to agree with that; he himself had been fighting vampires for several years and was still around to talk about it. He could remember when Cordelia would talk about her Sunnydale days, and she seemed conflicted on how to talk about her former boyfriend. One minute she would be calling him all the names under the sun, as well as several above and around it, then the next minute she would be singing his praises and telling them how brave he was.

Angel very rarely spoke about his time on the Hellmouth and when he did it invariably concerned Buffy, and Wesley often admitted that he didn't take the time he should have to get more acquainted with the 'Scooby Gang' as Gunn was told they called themselves, so he didn't exactly know what to think of Xander when he met him.

His reaction when he finally had met him was mixed; his open animosity to Angel had made him believe him to be an asshole, and yet the warm and friendly way he had greeted Fred as she introduced himself showed a softer, more caring side to him. The way he was around Buffy's sister Dawn further proved he wasn't as hard nosed as he presented himself to be, and Gunn had started to believe that he could get to like the guy.

He was worrying slightly about what would happen once they discovered where Connor was hiding out with Buffy, as he could tell that Xander had a toe tag with his name on it. While he wouldn't condone cold-blooded murder, he had no problem with killing someone if they were trying to do the same to him, and he knew that Connor would do exactly that once they found him and attempted to rescue Buffy.

Angel however was still seeing Connor as his baby boy, and not the guy that stuck him in an iron coffin and dumped him in the ocean. Gunn knew that Angel would do whatever he could to protect his son, although he wondered if that included going up against Xander and possibly Buffy. Remembering what he tried to do to Wesley when he was defenceless made him believe he might.

As they were passing the grave of the recently buried Elizabeth Gracen, Gunn was brought out of his thoughts when he heard the unmistakable sounds of wood breaking and earth moving. Preparing his trusty homemade battleaxe, he waited for the vampire to rise from its resting place, fully intending to take its head from its shoulders the moment it came into view. However, he didn't want the vampire's demise to be a painless one, so he took a bottle of holy water from his jacket and poured it onto the shifting dirt. He didn't generally feel the need to cause a vampire pain, more focussed on ending its existence and continuing his own than anything else, but there was something about Sunnydale that brought out his sadistic side.

Wesley stood to one side, knowing that his former friend and colleague was more than capable of taking down the newly rising demon, when he too heard the sound of a vampire awakening from its coffin. Moving over to the grave of Peter Wingfield, he readied his sword, not wanting to give the vampire the chance to fully escape its current confinement.

He often wondered why Buffy didn't do the same when she went on patrol, knowing that during his time as her Watcher she would wait for the vampire to be completely free before attacking. He didn't think much of it at the time, as it wasn't his job to wonder why his Slayer did something only that she did it, but once he began actively hunting himself, he found it to be inefficient at best and reckless at worst. It was no doubt the Slayer essence that made her wait, the need for a challenge overriding common sense, but taking such an unnecessary risk wasn't really conducive to prolonging ones life. Of course death wasn't as big an obstacle for Buffy as it was for most people, but even she would run out of luck one day.

A hand suddenly emerging from the ground brought Wesley out of his musings, waiting for the vampire's head to come into view. The moment Wesley could see enough of the head to strike he did so, the vampire attempting to block the strike with its arms but only succeeding in having them severed along with its head. The vampire dusted and the grave caved in due to the void it left behind.

Wesley turned to see how Gunn was fairing, only to see him about to be pounced on by a vampire behind him. He was so focussed on the screams of pain the vampire emerging from the grave was making that he didn't notice the presence behind him.

"Gunn, behind you!" he yelled out in warning.

Gunn span round due to Wesley's warning in time to see the vampire charge into him, the pair falling to the ground in a tangle of limbs. The vampire, probably the sire of the one breaking through the ground, was the first to get up, kicking Gunn once in the ribs hard enough for Wesley to hear at least one crack from the impact.

The former Watcher threw a vial of holy water into the vampire's face as he got closer to the pair, causing it to step back from Gunn in pain, its hand covering its face as its skin sizzled and bubbled due to the blessed liquid.

Although distracted, the vampire was still able to dodge the sword aiming for its neck, but was unable to move out of the way of the strike that severed its leg at the knee, causing it to once more fall to the ground, writing in agony as the stolen blood began pouring from its body. Wesley decided to put it out of its misery and beheaded it, watching the rest of the body crumble to ash to join its leg.

Hearing a noise behind him, Wesley span round thrust his sword through the body of the remaining vampire, which had tried to blindside him in revenge for killing its sire. The vampire moved closer to Wesley, forcing the sword further through its body, determined to snuff out his life in retribution, only to turn to dust a moment later due to Gunn staking him from behind.

"Gunn, how are you feeling?" Wesley asked his comrade, knowing it to be a stupid question but needing an answer in any event.

"I've had worse, and how sad is it that I'm telling the truth? Kinda hard to breathe, but at least my ribs are only cracked and not broken."

"I need to get you back to Dawn and Fred."

"No, I'll be fine."

"Gunn, you're injured."

"I said I'll be fine, the last thing I need is a couple of mother hens."

Despite her young age, both men knew that Dawn was used to tending to the wounds of others, and combined with Fred, who would be buzzing round him like a fly the moment he arrived, neither one knew whether he would actually be better off returning. Eventually, Wesley acquiesced to Gunn's plea, knowing he had little sway over his former friend. Maybe tonight would be the beginning of their reconciliation.

"Fine," he sighed, "but you get injured any further and you'll have to go back, understand?"

"Deal."

Crawford Street Mansion,  
Sunnydale,  
01:10.

"Oh mighty Mnaorxtoin, here us…"

Xander and Angel were currently hiding in a secret tunnel Angel, or more specifically Angelus, had found in the library during his initial search of the mansion, listening to the dozen or so robed figures that were chanting around a large, ornate mirror.

They had been searching the mansion for the source of the blood that Angel could smell, which he had finally been able to tell was Connor's, and had eventually found it in the basement next to the sewer access. There was a small rag that had been soaked, for want of a better word, in the teenager's blood. This meant that there could be more decoys scattered throughout the town, making it that much harder for them to track him down.

Xander had actually used the handheld tazer Riley had left him as a going away present on the cursed vampire, admittedly on the lowest setting, when he had started to show pride in his son's tactics.

"I hear you sound proud about your bastard child again, and I swear you'll be blowing in the wind before you realise the stake has punctured your shrivelled up heart."

Angel showed enough intelligence not to say anything in retaliation, and actually felt guilty over the way he spoke. At any other time he would be right to feel proud, at least about his methods not his application, but with Buffy's life on the line he couldn't allow himself to lose focus.

It was a couple of minutes later when they heard movement at the front of the mansion, and had decided to keep their presence unknown in case it was Connor returning. They instead saw the robed figures moving to the Spartan library and prepare for a ritual of some sort.

Neither one recognised much of what they were saying, but they knew it was a summoning ritual to call forth a demon lord into this world. Knowing they couldn't let them complete the ritual, as any ritual on a Hellmouth was no doubt not of the good, they had no choice but to stop them from completing it.

"Okay, you take right, I'll take left."

"Why do I get right?" Angel asked.

"Fine, you take left."

"No, no, no, you wanted to take right all along, that's why you said for me take right to begin with. You knew I'd argue and get you to swap."

"Are you sure that coffin was airtight? I'm sure some of that saltwater has affected your already damaged brain."

Finally realising just how juvenile he sounded, Angel just took a deep unnecessary breath and released it, only to have Xander smack upside the head with significant force.

"What the hell was that for?" he asked in a heated whisper.

"What was that for?!" he hissed. "Hmm, let me think… 'I can't perform CPR, I have no breath.' springs to mind. All you had to do was admit you didn't know how, but oh no, that would mean showing weakness to the lowly mortal. You really do make me sick."

Not wanting to be near Angel a second longer, Xander charged out of their hiding place towards the chanting figures, and kicked the nearest one in the side of the head. The figure fell roughly to one side, and his hood moved enough for Xander to see he was human.

While Xander wasn't above, or below depending on how you looked at it, killing humans if they were trying to do the same to him, he wasn't about to kill indiscriminately, so instead he kicked him in the head once more, rendering him unconscious. By now, Angel had followed him and was taking on the robed men and women, using surprise and superior strength to incapacitate them. Both realised they weren't dealing with fighters of any degree and it took no more than a couple of minutes to have all but one of them out for the count.

"What the hell do you and your buddies think you're doing?" Xander asked, his tone indicating that she had no choice but to answer.

"We are worshippers of the Great Lord Mnaorxtoin, and as was written in the sacred scripture of Dgarveiednwalt we were opening a doorway to his home dimension to enable him to once more roam free. Those who follow him are to be rewarded for their dedication and all those who defy his will are to be torn asunder."

"Peachy. Why here?"

"We learned that a demon had been returned to this plane from Hell and decided that this was the perfect place for our lord to be brought across."

A sudden crackling sound caught their attention and they turned toward the mirror and noticed that their reflections, apart from Angel's due to it not being there, were beginning to warp and distort.

"Behold! You are too late! Mnaorxtoin is coming and all those that oppose him shall be but ash in the wind!"

"Oh shut up you daft cow."

Xander punched her full in the face and she dropped bonelessly to the ground, and the sharp crack that resonated through the air as her head impacted with the marble floor caused him to wince slightly in sympathy. He didn't envy the headache she'd have when she woke up.

The sound of twisting metal brought Xander's gaze back to the mirror, no longer seeing any reflection there and instead able to see what looked like the stereotypical description of Hell; minus little red devils with pitchforks. A moment later, a large, magenta coloured demon lumbered up to the doorway, which was what the mirror had become, and poked its head through to no doubt see where it led, before stepping through. The demon grew in size as it emerged on their side of the doorway, standing eight or nine feet tall and five or six feet wide, bony protrusions on each of its six arms and four legs and two tusk like appendages on its large jaw. The demon screamed power and made both Xander and Angel feel way out of their league.

Xander and Angel looked at one another for a moment before readying for what was possibly, or more likely definitely, their death. As they were about to charge it, hoping that a pre-emptive strike would at least catch it off guard, the demon brought its taloned hands up in the universal gesture of halt.

"BE STILL, I HAVE NOT COME TO BATTLE YOU."

"Who are you and what do you want?" Angel asked in a growl, hoping that he didn't look as intimidated as he felt.

"I AM MNAORXTOIN AND I WANT NOTHING FROM LOWER CAST CREATURES SUCH AS YOURSELF. I HAVE LONG GIVEN UP FOOLISH DREAMS OF CONQUEST ON THIS INSIGNIFICANT MUDBALL YOU LAUGHINGLY CALL A PLANET. I AM RULER OF THE SEVENTEENTH DIMENSION OF HELL AND AM QUITE CONTENT TO STAY THAT WAY. WHO HERE CALLED FOR ME?"

Xander waved his hand to indicate the still unconscious people strewn across the floor. "These are your followers, who decided that you should come to our world to rule." He felt rather strange conversing telepathically with a demon the way he was, as the voice was entering his mind directly with such force that he found it difficult to stand. He had also decided that when conversing with a demon that ruled a hell dimension courtesy was called for, which was why he had refrained from injecting any of his usual quips into what he'd 'said'.

"THE ARROGANCE OF YOUR RACE, THINKING THAT YOU HAVE THE RIGHT TO SUMMON AS IMPORTANT A BEING AS MYSELF. I WILL SEE TO IT THAT THIS NEVER HAPPENS AGAIN."

With a wave of its hand, the followers began screaming in tremendous agony even in their unconscious state, as their flesh and bones seemed to melt away, leaving only their skeletons behind.

"THERE ARE NOW NO MORE OF MY 'FOLLOWERS' LEFT ON THIS PUNY PLANET, AND ANY THAT TRY TO BECOME ONE WILL SUFFER THE SAME FATE. AS YOU TRIED TO PREVENT THEM FROM COMPLETING THEIR CEREMONY, I SHALL SPARE YOUR LIVES. HOWEVER, WERE WE TO MEET AGAIN I SHALL NOT BE AS MERCIFUL TO YOU AS I WAS TO THOSE PITIFUL FOOLS AND THEIR ILK."

With that, the demon turned and made its way back through the doorway. Once it was safely back on its own side once more, it made another gesture with its hand and the doorway vanished, as did the skeletons and any other trace that a ceremony had been performed there.

Silence permeated the mansion for several minutes, before Xander finally snapped out of whatever sate he had been in and turned once more to his companion. "So, where to next?"


	4. Chapter 4

Title: Deadly Connor-tations 4/?

Author: VladtheImpish

Rating: Nothing worse that the show(s)

Disclaimer: I do not own the characters depicted in this story, nor will I make any money from writing it. Please don't sue; I'm really not worth it.

Summary: X-Over with Angel, set the summer before Buffy Season 7/beginning of Angel Season 4. After Angel throws him out of the hotel, Connor needs to get revenge and his 'father' Holtz taught him that you take away the things they love the most. Meanwhile in Sunnydale, Buffy, Xander and Dawn are still playing Happy Families but Xander wants them to stop playing and Buffy may finally be on the same page. When Connor captures Buffy, Xander and Angel must work together to find her before it's too late.

Warning: Character Death(s)!!

**Pier 3,  
Sunnydale Docks,  
01:25.**

When Buffy emerged from her unconscious state once more, she found that she was no longer lying on the floor. Instead, she found herself suspended in the air, her hands and feet secured by heavy-duty rope to the floor and ceiling so that she was in a spread-eagled position. The ropes had been pulled tight so that her limbs were at full stretch, once again finding that she had no leverage in which to break free of her bonds.

To her horror, she found that she had been stripped of her trousers and top, leaving her in only her sports bra and white cotton panties. While she wasn't a prude, her 'encounters' with Spike had pretty much eradicated any such thoughts from her mind, she did find herself blushing madly at the provocative position she was currently in, coupled with a shiver of desire that she once again blamed on her interactions with the bleach-blonde vampire.

She suddenly heard a loud crack behind her, feeling a moment later intense pain in her back. "Ahh!"

"I thought that might get your attention."

Hearing the voice of the bastard that was currently holding her captive, Buffy tried to turn her head round enough to see him, but found her position simply too inflexible. He must have got his tying people up' merit badge at scouts. "What the hell do you think you're doing!?"

Connor didn't answer, instead letting fly with the whip once more, finding her scream of pain both sickening and enjoyable. He had acquired the whip last night during his preparations, deciding that the vampire that had it in its possession had no use for it, especially as he dusted it moments later. He'd had one similar to it in Quortoth and was very proficient in causing the biggest amount of pain with the least amount of damage.

He really didn't know why he was taking this current form of action, his original plan was to simply slit her throat upon seeing the first rays of sun peeking out from the horizon, nut now he had started down this path he could see no reason to stop. She had made noises of coming out of her enforced slumber twice since he had brought her here, the first he had briefly talked to her and the second he had simply hit her over the head once more to keep her knocked out, and it had been after knocking her out a third time that he'd decided to change his plans.

He was well versed in the art of torture, but he had never used it without cause and never for personal gratification. The only times he or his dad had even resorted to torturing one of the other creatures that inhabited the accursed place he had called home all his life, was to extract information from a particularly uncooperative demon concerning the latest tin pot dictator that had called itself ruler. The idea of causing pain for the sake of it was an unsettling one to the teenaged demon hunter. Even though he had revelled in the knowledge that Angel would die a long and tortuous death at the bottom of the ocean, it was because he had considered it a fitting punishment for the creature that had murdered his dad.

When he had first thought of torturing this Slayer he had been repulsed by it, but there was something about this golden haired warrior that instilled in him a desire to inflict pain, a desire that overrode any misgivings he had for doing so. To appease his conscience however, he had decided to use this as a way of finding out whether she still loved his biological father the way he did her and, if she didn't, who had taken Angel's place. He only hoped that she was as stubborn as Cordelia had made her out to be and not to give up the information to quickly, as he really wanted to cause her harm.

He continued whipping her in silence for the next few minutes, ensuring that he never hit the same place twice, so that the entirety of her back was covered in red and angry welts. He was aware that her mystically enhanced healing would ensure they didn't remain for very long, especially as his hits were aimed at causing pain not permanent injury, so he knew that he would be able to keep up this pace for as long as was necessary, or until sunrise, whichever came first, without causing irreparable damage. He was nothing if not a man of his word, which meant that she would die when the first flashes of sunlight appeared and not one moment sooner.

Once he was satisfied he could see no unblemished skin on her back, at least for the moment, he stopped and moved round so that he was facing her.

"I want you to answer a simple question," he told her in a soft and yet steely voice. "Who do you love above all others?"

"Drop dead."

"I think not, at least not before you." He stepped back a few paces, giving him a better striking range. "Your options are few; cooperate and this," he let fly with his whip, catching her across her abdomen, causing her to let out yet another involuntary scream, "will cease. If you do not cooperate I will have no choice but to continue until you either do cooperate, or until the first rays of sun hit this building."

"What happens then?" she asked, already having a fair idea of the answer.

"Your death."

This wasn't the first time that her life had been threatened, but there was something about the matter of fact tone her captor used that made her take him more seriously. However, she was not going to give this strange young man the satisfaction of knowing that, she was the Slayer after all. "How can I put this? Oh yeah; fuck you."

"I think not; I do not want one of my father's cast-offs."

He struck her several more times on her front before she could dwell too much on his last words, careful to keep away from her more… sensitive areas, at least for the moment. When he had finished, he had left a glowing red crisscross pattern on her stomach and outer thighs.

"Are you sure you will not change your mind?"

"Go to hell you son of a bitch!"

He didn't respond to her taunt, instead he moved round so that he was behind her once more, noting with some relish that the marks he had made were already nearly healed. A shiver of anticipation flowed through him as he prepared to put her accelerated healing through its paces. The thought of testing her limits of endurance overrode the last vestiges of unease he had been feeling, and he was now completely focussed on breaking her before he snuffed out her life.

Summers Residence  
1630 Revello Drive, Sunnydale.  
01:40.

There are days when Dawn felt really old. She knew that she was made of energy that was, supposedly, as old as time, but given that whenever she ever made mention of it to either her sister or Xander she had to suffer through a lengthy and mind numbing lecture, she generally thought of herself as sixteen. However, there were moments like tonight when she felt far older than that, and yet she wouldn't have it any other way.

She was worried, justifiably so, about Buffy, but as worried as she was, she was even more certain that Xander would bring her back safe and sound. Her crush on him had faded the last couple of years, and she no longer thought that he could do no wrong, but when it came to him protecting 'his girls', she knew that nothing but the Creator herself could prevent him from saving her, like he had done so many times before.

She had less faith in his ability to remain in close proximity to Angel and not shove something wooden into his chest, and wouldn't be surprised if the souled vampire met with an accident before the night was through. If she were being honest with herself she wasn't all that bothered either way; Angel had pretty much ignored her during his stint in Sunnyhell, although his soulless self more than made up for it. On more than one occasion he had come into her room and held her down with one hand covering her mouth to prevent her screaming, telling her in sometimes-graphic detail what he was going to do to her mother if she ever told a soul, he always smirked when saying that, about his visits. He never did anything… bad to her, but his mere presence was enough of a trauma to ensure that she barely spoke a word to anyone about anything during those months.

He had apologised to her before he left for LA, but by then the damage had been done and she had never truly felt comfortable in his presence. Even after three years of absence, she still felt a chill run down her spine when he first walked into the house, something she would need to rectify after Buffy was found. She agreed wholeheartedly with Xander's policy of not allowing ANY vampire access to the house, especially after finding out what spike had tried to do before he ran off to parts unknown, and it was only due to the fact he already being invited that Angel was allowed in tonight. She knew that whatever happened tonight, Xander would find someone to cast a de-invite spell on the house once more to revoke both Angel's and Spike's ability to enter the house.

She has been doing her best to get on with Fred, the member of Angel's group who was 'keeping her company' read babysitting, but she reminded her a little of Willow and that made her on the defensive. She tried not to let it show, as it had nothing to do with Fred herself, but it did prevent her from warming up to her like she might have otherwise.

Despite Dawn's inability to connect with the other woman, the conversation had been flowing freely, Fred regaling her with her stint in another dimension, as well as some of the Fang Gang's, as Xander called them, adventures in LA. The subject of Cordelia was avoided at all costs, something she knew would not last long with Xander once this situation had been dealt with, but apart from that Fred was quite willing to talk about anything, including how Connor came into existence.

Both herself and Xander could tell that despite what they had been told, elements of the story had been left out, particularly who the mother of Connor was. When explaining just how Connor came into existence, they only ever called her 'Connor's mother', never by a name. Fred had no doubt gone along with it then, but had no qualms about telling her now. In a way Dawn was extremely glad for it, as she wouldn't have wanted to be in the room when Mt. St. Xand-Man erupted.

Noticing that Fred was still talking to her, making a serious challenge for the 'longest time talking without taking a breath' world record currently held by a Wicca not currently in her good books, she decided to zone back in.

"… and then Angel went all vampy and beat on the vamp that hit me while Charles and Wesley went after the geomage."

"It's a shame I missed it."

Fred didn't seem to notice the sarcasm in Dawn's voice and nodded her head in agreement. "Yeah that was fun, in a really scary way."

Dawn was saved from making whatever biting remark waiting at the tip of her tongue when the 'hotline' phone started ringing. She knew that one day she would have to pin Xander down and work out just how he got a reputation impressive enough that the demon community would ring and give them the heads up on situations.

"Yeah?"

"…"

"Hey Clem, how are you?"

"…"

"You know I don't like playing for kittens Clem otherwise I would."

"…"

"I'll play for rats, it's just a shame that bitca Amy isn't one anymore. Not to sound impatient, but was there a reason you called?"

"…"

"What, again?"

"…"

"You be careful, you're just as susceptible to those poison spikes as we are."

"…"

"Alright, we'll get someone there as soon as we can." Dawn disconnected the call and quickly used the speed dial to call Xander. "Hey Xan."

"…"

"No, nothing yet, but I've had Clem call and tell us that the Kirsch brothers are back."

"…"

"You kiss your mother with that mouth?"

"…"

"I've met your mother, and you're probably right. They're at the theatre; they've interrupted a Shirley Temple marathon, so you know how testy Clem is right now."

"…"

"Don't get stung, you know we don't have any mojo wielders in the group at the moment."

"Yes, I do know you, which is why I'm telling you to be careful."

"…"

"Yeah, you too."

Putting the receiver back, Dawn Noticed Fred looking at her strangely, which given her side of the conversations she'd just had wasn't all that surprising. "Clem is a demon… friend I suppose is the best word, of ours. He's just let us know that a couple of Donj'who'ses demons, known as the Kirsch brothers, have come back to Sunnydale."

"Come back? Don't you normally, like, kill the demons?"

"Not as often as myself or Xander would like," she mumbled darkly. Raising her voice, she began to explain. "The Kirsch inadvertently helped Buffy out a year or so back, killing a group of those Byzantium Knights that were looking for me, so she gave them a 'Get Out Of Sunnydale Intact' card. Trouble is, demons as a whole never keep their word, and they're back. Never a dull moment on the ole' Hellmouth."

House Of The Rising Sun Theatre,  
Sunnydale,  
02:15.

"They came from out of the screen! Run for your life!"

Xander and Angel were nearly knocked over by a man wearing a very bad, very cheap alien costume as he came running out of the theatre like the devil himself was after him, quickly followed by several of his extra-terrestrial friends.

"They would have to be showing a Sci-Fi flick on the other screen wouldn't they?" Xander sighed, realising once again that his luck was free, plentiful, and bad.

"Are you sure we can trust this Clem?"

"Of course we can," Xander replied as they entered the theatre, his voice tinged with mockery, "he has a soul after all." Seeing the look Angel gave him, and realising that he was actually being childish, he relented slightly. "Clem does have a soul, Will checked to be certain, and as his type of demon is pretty much human friendly, we leave him be while keeping an eye out just in case. I did some research and Clem's breed of demon had been known to terrify villages, but I think they just got a bum rap because of all the excess skin. That and their penchant for kittens."

"Kittens?"

"Yeah, they use 'em like currency."

"Lovely."

"At the end of the day he's never tried to kill me or mine, something that can't be said for other demons in my acquaintance, so I give him some slack."

They reached the first screen and found Clem fending off a reptilian like demon with bone like spines, keeping himself between the demon and a group of humans who had been unlucky enough not to escape with the others.

"That and he doesn't skulk off into the night once giving some information."

Angel restrained himself from replying, knowing that he would never make ground with him.

As they got closer, the seat Clem had been using to keep the demon, Xander guessed it was Stanley and not Oliver, from spearing him with one of its spikes was knocked away. Xander moved first, not wanting to see one of his friends, which given his views on demons was pretty ironic he decided, get hurt. He saw Stanley about to skewer Clem and didn't think twice about shoulder blocking him out of the way, the spike catching him slightly on his upper arm.

Angel in the meantime was having his own problems, as the other demon, Oliver, had come lumbering in from the other cinema screen toward him. He'd dealt with demons like this before when he… wasn't himself, so he knew that their poison couldn't infect dead tissue, but he also knew that he'd barely managed to get away undead.

"Of course last time I didn't have a nifty sword," he said to himself.

He regretted saying anything a moment later as his first swing ended with the sword vibrating strongly as it hit the seemingly impervious hide of the demon. Knowing that it was the only thing he had, he kept the demon at bay with the sword, dismayed that his favourite weapon was slowly becoming dented and blunt. He mistimed one swing and the demon caught the blade, leaving Angel open to attack.

As he prepared for the blow, Angel heard a loud sickening crack and a hellish howl of anguish, followed by a loud thump as Oliver collapsed to the ground unconscious. Standing behind the fallen creature is Xander, his sledgehammer in his hand and a smirk on his face.

"These little buggers can only be hurt by blessed items, which pretty much means you better get back to the other four Marx brothers Deadboy."

"What are you on about Harris?" he snapped.

"Get everyone out," Xander replied, not having time to argue, "I've got work to do."

Wondering what he meant, Angel looked behind Xander to see the other demon getting up slowly, hearing a pop as it put what goes for an elbow back into place. Angel knew he had no way of helping, as any blessed weapon would hurt him as much as it would the demon, so he reluctantly took Xander's advice and went to lead Clem and the other movie goers outside.

Roaring in anger and pain at having one of it's limbs dislocated, the demon began ripping up chairs and throwing them at Xander, causing the young man to use every ounce of agility he had to bob and weave through them to get close enough to strike. He was glad that Buffy had put him on a diet now, as he doubted he could have moved as fast a few months ago. That didn't mean he was able to dodge them all, as one clipped him on the hip; not by much, but enough for him to have trouble putting his whole weight on it.

Knowing he wouldn't have time to use his sledgehammer, as it wasn't exactly light, he slung it over his shoulder into the custom made harness for it, a present from Giles before he departed with Willow off to England, and grabbed a vial of holy water and a blessed dagger from within his jacket. Once he was close enough to make his move, he threw the vial in the face of the demon, causing it to smash and temporarily blind it. While the demon clawed at its eyes in agony, Xander was able to get close enough to use the dagger, thrusting the blade right up to the hilt into the small of its back, where this type of demon's heart was.

Pulling the dagger out as the demon dropped lifelessly to the ground, he went over to the other, slowly rousing demon and thrust the blade into the same location, before he finally allowed himself to relax. He walked over to the first intact chair and slumped down into it; finally allowing himself time to check what he already knew was there.

"Dawn's gonna kill me," he said to himself as he looked at the wound, finding that his reflexive need to add humour to any situation kicked in even when he was alone.

The demon had only nicked him, but that was all it took for the poison to get into his system. The poison itself was extremely rare, as was the antidote, but for the time being he was fine. At the moment the poison was dormant, but at sunrise the poison would be activated and he was in for around ninety minutes of excruciating agony as his internal organs slowly liquefied.

He couldn't wait.

The upside was that he would still have enough time to save Buffy one more time before his time was well and truly up, and that was something he could live with, pardon the pun.

Checking his wound once more and kicking himself for not bringing an extra top with him to change into, he got up and left the theatre, finding Angel and Clem waiting for him.

"You're hurt."

"You're observational skills are as good as always Deadboy." Xander ignored Angel's glare and focused on Clem. "You alright?"

"Yeah, thanks. You've been infected haven't you?" he asked, Xander feeling touched by the concern in the demon's voice.

"Certainly seems that way."

"I'm sorry," Clem said sincerely.

"Nothing to be sorry about, I'd do the same for any of my friends."

"I don't suppose there's any chance…"

Xander cut Clem off before he had a chance to continue. "There's no one in good old Sunnyhell powerful enough to do anything about it Clem. You better get home, tonight seems to be one of those nights."

"I got that. You take care of yourself alright?"

"You know me."

Clem looked at Xander sadly before making his way home.

"You should go back," Angel suggested, although his tone indicated that it was more of an order.

"Fuck you Deadboy, we both know I'll be fine 'til sunrise and that's plenty of time."

Xander pushed past Angel and began stalking towards the warehouse district, leaving the souled vamp no choice but to follow.

**Sunnydale Docks,  
03:00.**

Gunn and Wes had finished their patrol of the cemeteries and were finally joining the search for Buffy and Connor, going to the docks first as the last cemetery they checked had only been half a mile away from them.

As they reached the entranceway, they spotted a group of five vamps leaving the docks and headed their way. What really caught their eye was the fact they were all laughing and joking about something, so much so that the group walked by them without a passing glance in their direction.

"Well," Wesley said, "that was a little strange." Taking one final glance their way, he continued his journey into the docks.

Gunn, however, had different plans. "If there's one thing I hate more than vamps, its vamps that ignore me," he growled before heading off in the vamps' direction.

"Gunn, we don't have time for this."

"I'll make time," he replied, continuing on his way.

Wes sighed and changed his course to follow Gunn. Ever since the revelation about Connor's involvement in Angel's disappearance, Gunn had been getting more and more agitated and short tempered. Wesley knew a lot of the anger Gunn was feeling was directed at Gunn himself, as he no doubt felt that he should have known Connor was deceiving them all this time.

Whatever the reasons behind it, Gunn's anger had made him irrational, which was very evident in the way he'd been fighting. On more than one occasion tonight he'd been so lost in his anger that he forgot about trying to stake the vamp he was fighting and continued to pummel the demon until Wesley himself finished it off.

Now was just another example of his anger getting the best of him, and Wesley had gotten tired of pulling his arse out of the fire.

"Hey fangboys!" Gunn shouted. "You don't like dark meat?"

That got the groups attention, as they all stopped laughing and turned round.

"You had to go and ruin the mood didn't you?" the centre vamp, who could easily be identified as the leader, sneered.

"Yeah, I'm employed by the government to ensure none of you suckheads enjoy yourselves too much."

During their little 'talk', Gunn had been getting progressively closer to the group and, before they had a chance to react, he removed his axe from behind his back and dusted the vamp closest to him.

"Damn, I love my job."

Seeing that the other four were about to jump him, Wesley took it as his cue to join the fray. Luckily, they were the only two with bladed weapons so the fight was pretty much one-sided and only a couple of minutes later only one vamp remained.

Knocking it to the ground, Wesley placed the point of his sword against its throat. "Now then, what was so funny that you neglected to acknowledge just how tasty a morsel my associate is?"

The vamp, Michael, had only been turned a few months ago but had learnt a few things in that short time. He knew that no matter what happened in the next few minutes, he wasn't leaving alive, or unlive in his case. He also knew that the information they were asking for would no doubt help these white hats immensely. That was something he'd rather die than do, which was where the stake in his back pocket came in. His sire had instilled in him one thing above everything else; never give the good guys the satisfaction. To that end, he would give each of his childer a stake to keep with them at all times, to use on themselves if the need arose.

Moving as surreptitiously as possible, he slowly worked on freeing the stake from his pants while answering. "Well, you see, my sire Hank, that was the one Denzel here made a head shorter, wanted to check the docks for vagrants, so we could feed and keep under Harris' radar…"

"Harris?" Gunn asked.

"Xander," Wesley told him. "Why Xander and not the Slayer?"

"The Slayer? She doesn't know whether to stake us or shag us; Harris on the other hand would rather stake you than look at you."

"What do you mean by that?"

"We'd just finished draining this bum," Michael continued, ignoring Gunn's question, "when we heard a scream. We go to check it out, we're always on the lookout for a little mayhem you see, when we look in this building to see none other that the Slayer Layer herself, spread-eagled in mid-air, being whipped by this kid. She was screaming and shouting in agony she was, it gets me going just thinking about it I can tell you. Danny fell over he was laughing so much, and knocked over a couple of crates. The kid heard him and, before we even saw him move, had thrown a stake through the wall and into Danny, dusting him there on the spot. Well after seeing that and what he was doing to the Slayer, we hightailed it out of there, which is when we ran into you."

"Where did you see them?" Wesley asked, pressing the sword a little into its throat to make the meaning clear about what would happen if he didn't talk. That was the question Michael had been waiting for.

"I'll never tell." Before either Wesley or Gunn could stop him, he rammed the stake into his chest and turned to dust.

"That bastard!" Gunn roared, kicking at its remains in anger.

"The important thing is we know where they are." Wesley quickly got his cell phone out and dialled Xander's number. "Get to the docks, we've found them."


	5. Chapter 5

Title: Deadly Connor-tations 5/5

Author: VladtheImpish

Rating: Nothing worse that the show(s)

Disclaimer: I do not own the characters depicted in this story, nor will I make any money from writing it. Please don't sue; I'm really not worth it.

Summary: X-Over with Angel, set the summer before Buffy Season 7/beginning of Angel Season 4. After Angel throws him out of the hotel, Connor needs to get revenge and his 'father' Holtz taught him that the best way to hurt people is to take away the things they love the most. Meanwhile in Sunnydale, Buffy, Xander and Dawn are still playing Happy Families but Xander wants them to stop playing and Buffy may finally be on the same page. When Connor captures Buffy, Xander and Angel must work together to find her before it's too late.

A/N: I just wanted to give a big thank you to John for betaing this part.

Warning: Character Death(s)!!

The Coven,  
Tiverton, Devon,  
United Kingdom,  
11:15 am GMT.

Willow was sitting on the grass outside her cottage enjoying the cold but sunny morning whilst meditating. It was something she had been doing almost constantly since the moment she had arrived here at the Coven. She had been surprised that, when Giles had brought her here to recuperate after her… breakdown, she had been told she would be taught little to no magic during her stay. Instead, they put her through a rigorous training regime to garner full control over the knowledge and power she already had at her disposal.

To begin with, she had felt disappointed, her almost obsessive need to learn new things balking at the idea, until she reminded herself that it had been that exact need (well, compulsion might actually be a better description, if she were being honest with herself) to learn new things that had been part of the problem.

It had taken her a long time to fully appreciate the difference between knowledge and wisdom, and that while she could honestly say she most certainly possessed a great deal of the first, she had a long way to go before she could claim to have the second. To that end, she had thrown herself into her training, wanting - no, needing - to be in better control of herself.

It had been her decision not to remain in contact with Xander and the others, at least not in the conventional ways, as she knew any kind of communication would only strengthen the already immense levels of guilt she felt. She had tried to kill her friends and the world as a whole, all because she could not stand the grief she felt over the loss of her girlfriend Tara. She knew that had it not been magic, she would have found some sort of outlet for her emotions, although probably not with such extreme results. She needed to be happy with who she was before she could possibly begin to be around her friends and family.

But while not in contact via conventional means, Willow did keep informed as to their well being via less than conventional ones. She had been taught that her magical abilities were deeply connected with the Earth, or Gaia as the Coven would like to refer to it, and with those teachings came the knowledge that she could communicate with nature on a level few people could. She could, and often did, speak with both flora and fauna, and in doing so felt as though she had learnt more about herself in the process. Using this ability, she had been able to keep an eye on Xander and the others, never directly, but enough to know they were alright.

She tapped into that ability now and listened with increasing despair as the events of the last few hours were explained to her. With the prospect of the two people she cared for the most in the world losing their lives, Willow knew that she would have to break a vow she had made on her first day here.

When she had been told she would not be taught any new spell, she had also been told that she could not use her magic without the express permission of the Coven. To ensure that, they made her take a blood oath to that effect, with the warning that if she were to break her vow, there would be dire consequences. She hadn't been all that curious as to what those consequences would be at the time, having no intention of using her abilities, but now they gave her pause.

Her hesitation only lasted a moment, however, as the welfare of her friends was far more important than any punishment she would be faced with. Despite that, she knew that to use an overt display of her abilities would easily notify the others that she was in breach of her oath and they would no doubt try to stop her before she could be of any help. That meant that teleportation spells were out - at least the more obvious ones, anyway.

Going into a deeper mediation, far deeper than she had tried before, she started to focus on her goal of reaching her friends. Soon, roots started to appear in a circle around her, and steadily grew until they reached above her head. They then began to intertwine with one another until they created a dome that completely covered her, which then began to sink into the ground until it completely disappeared. Soil and grass appeared to fill in the hole left by her departure, and soon she was on her way to Sunnydale.

**Pier 3,  
04:00 am.**

Buffy dearly wished that she could scream right now, but the gag that her torturer had forced into her mouth a couple of hours ago ensured that her enforced silence continued. She had never felt such intense pain for so long a time, and she had thought that almost impossible after the pain that had wracked her body when she'd swan-dived into that portal last year. She had tried to detach herself from the pain, using the mental techniques Giles had drilled into her before his departure to England, but whenever she got close to success, her captor managed to break her concentration, as though he could read her thoughts.

He had somehow managed to rotate where he hit her with the whip so that, by the time he had made a full circuit of her body, the welts he made at the beginning had almost completely healed. Where he found the stamina was beyond her, as was how she had remained conscious throughout her ordeal. The thought of what he might attempt if she were unconscious were not pleasant, but she had begun to favour them over her current situation.

Her torture had been unending and methodical ever since she had refused to answer his seemingly innocuous question. He would repeat the question every half an hour or so, and her response had been the same each time. The question itself wasn't important in the grand scheme of things; it was the battle of wills between herself and her captor that kept her from answering. If she were to answer, it would mean giving power over to him, and that was one thing she would never do, even if it meant enduring the torture he was currently inflicting upon her.

She could have easily said that the answer was her sister Dawn, of course, but knowing the way things worked on the Mouth of Hell, even if she were to answer, he may well continue, stating that she had not been truthful. It would not have been a lie, as Dawn was her number one priority, but she knew that was not the type of love he had meant.

There was another reason she didn't answer the question; she would not tell anyone else until she had told the person in question. All she hoped now was that he would somehow find her before sunrise so she could do just that.

Sunnydale Docks,  
04:10 am.

When Angel and Xander finally arrived at the entrance to the docks, they had found an extremely agitated Gunn pacing back and forth, with Wesley doing his best to calm him down with little to no success.

"It's about damn time!" Gunn snapped upon spying the two arrivals.

"Gunn, do shut up." While Wesley's voice had little if no volume, the flint like quality and the almost palpable command presence it did have ensured Gunn had no other option than to comply.

"So, where is she?" Angel asked, beating Xander to the punch by a millisecond, a fact that irked him no end.

"We were told she was in the docks, but nothing more specific." Before either one could question him, Wesley continued. "We had little chance to garner further information, as our informant took that moment to stake himself."

"Did it say anything else?" Xander asked, his calling the vampire 'it' earning him a weird look.

"Yes, he said that Buffy was tied up and suspended in the air, where Connor is supposedly whipping her."

Wesley couldn't tell who growled first but, knowing how Angel sounded, he knew it was Xander who growled the loudest.

"We need to split up," Xander said unnecessarily, given that everyone knew the logic of his suggestion. "Gunn, you and Angel…"

"You're splitting us up?" Angel asked, actually feeling surprised he would not see this out with the young man, despite his ability to stomp on his last nerve.

"I didn't know you were so attached to me, Deadboy," Xander quipped, smiling sharkishly at the souled vamp.

"Might I suggest that you stop acting like you're in kindergarten and, instead, focus on rescuing Buffy?" Wesley asked/ordered, his tone indicating what he thought of their bickering. "Charles and myself will take the east side, you two will take the west. Come along, Charles," he said to his comrade as he turned toward the docks.

"Wes, I'm not some dog you call to heel."

"Come along now, there's a good boy," Wesley said as he started walking towards the entranceway.

Gunn shook his head and, reluctantly, followed after Wesley. "You and I will be having a long talk when this is all over."

Xander and Angel glared at each other for a moment before they also made their way into the docks.

Pier 12,  
04:45 am.

Wesley and Gunn made their way into the warehouse warily, knowing that at this late stage the last thing they needed was to startle the obviously unhinged teenager and cause him to up the timetable. This was the third warehouse they had checked so far, and they were starting to think that maybe they had been led on a wild goose chase by that annoying vampire.

"You know, Wes, when I finally get my hands on that little bastard, I am so gonna tan his…"

Click.

Gunn only had time to snap his head round to Wesley before the trap he'd just triggered activated. The darkness of the warehouse made it impossible for either man to get out of the way in time as the large piece of timber came swinging down from the roof.

The weight and speed of the deadly pendulum alone had been enough to shatter several bones, but it was the wooden spikes protruding from the timber that had done the real damage. Wesley's right shoulder and collarbone was, he was sure, irreparably damaged, but right at that moment, it was the gurgling noises he could hear coming from Gunn that had him more worried. Wesley had been on the edge of the impact, but Gunn had been hit dead centre and he was certain that his injuries were fatal.

"Gunn?" he managed to ground out, the pain becoming ever more intense with each passing second.

"Wes… tell Fred… love…"

A sigh and then stillness indicated the passing of his friend and colleague Charles Gunn. He, however, didn't have time to mourn the loss yet, as he could feel from both the way his blood was flowing freely down his arm and his increasing light-headedness that he didn't have all that much longer before he would be joining him.

Digging into whatever reserves he had left, he reached into his jacket and pulled out his revolver and, doing his best to keep his aim as steady as was possible, given his condition, fired until the spike holding him in place was no longer connected to the timber. Using a determination that many believed him incapable of possessing, he wrenched himself away from his would-be last resting place and began to drag himself out of the warehouse, hoping against hope that he would last long enough to reach help.

He realised upon finding himself outside, however, that hope was an extremely rare commodity when faced with three game faced vampires. He should have guessed that, with the amount of fresh blood around, the nocturnal fraternity would pick up on it and try to capitalise on the situation.

"Well, well, well, it's amazing what you find just lying around these days, isn't it boys?" the lead vampire said as it pulled Wesley onto his knees. "Pity there isn't enough left to go around, but I'm sure we'll find some more food around for the rest of you."

Before Wesley knew what was happening, he could feel what little blood he had remaining being sucked out through his neck. Wesley had decided a long time ago that, if he were in a situation where he had no chance of survival, he wouldn't give the bastards the satisfaction of killing him - or worse, turning him - so with his last ounce of strength, he brought his revolver to his head and pulled the trigger. The bullet ripped through his head, killing him instantly, and continued on into the vampire that had been feeding from him, causing it to howl in agony.

The vampire let go of Wesley's lifeless body in disgust, kicking him a couple of times for good measure. "Goddamn it, that hurt, you bastard!" he screamed. "Dump his body over the side."

His two childer quickly followed their master's order and roughly picked up Wesley's corpse and tossed it into the water, and watched as it bobbed up and down a few times before following after their quickly departing leader.

Pier 3,  
05:00 am.

Both Xander and Angel had heard the gunshots and their first impulse had been to rush and help their allies/friends, but the cold hard fact was that they knew they'd be of little help. The sound of gunfire had been faint, which meant that they were some distance away, and for either Gunn or Wesley to be using non-mystical means meant that they were probably too late to anything, anyway. They allowed themselves a moment to mourn the loss of two great warriors, and looked at each other in silent communication before continuing on.

They made their way into the last warehouse on their side of the docks, and despite the fate of their friends, they could both feel instinctively that they were at their final destination. They made their way inside stealthily, Angel stopping Xander inches away from triggering one of the numerous traps they had discovered since they had begun their search.

Xander had needed once again to remind Angel, physically, not to show pride in Conner's handiwork upon discovering the traps, especially as they had found the first one by triggering it. Only Xander's almost preternatural reflexes had saved him from serious injury, only receiving a gash on his arm instead of the puncture wound to the chest he would have gotten, had he been even a few inches further to the right.

Xander had done his best to stem the flow of blood when he had seen that Angel was struggling to keep his demonic visage from appearing. He also remembered that he'd been told that Connor seemed capable of smelling blood from some distance away, like his biological parents, which had only given him further incentive to deal with his wound, even though it had meant doing so in a way he detested.

He had reached into one of the pockets of his jacket and retrieved two small packets of different coloured powder, one red and one blue. He took the red powder and covered his wound with it, and then after placing a stake into his mouth, placed the blue powder on top. The two chemicals reacted to each other and began to burn his flesh, cauterising the wound quickly but painfully. It was a trick he'd been taught by a shaman he'd helped a while back, and he only used it when the others weren't around, as they seemed particularly squeamish about it.

Angel couldn't help but be impressed with the sheer grit and determination Xander possessed, not only because there seemed to be no limit to it, but also because he never seemed to let his abilities go to his head like he had seen from so many others do.

There were times when he truly believed that, under different circumstances, he and Xander could have become friends. The trouble was that those different circumstances would need to include the lack of Buffy in their lives, which would probably mean they'd never have met each other in the first place.

As they moved further inside the warehouse, they began to hear the distinct sound of leather hitting flesh, giving them all the proof they needed that they were, indeed, in the right place. The urge to just rush in was great, as neither one could bear the thought of what was happening to Buffy but, luckily, their heads overruled their hearts and they continued their quiet approach.

Xander noticed a stairwell leading to a platform above, where he might be able to get the drop on Connor, and quickly indicated his intentions to Angel before making his way up them.

Angel continued on his way, knowing that his job was as much to distract his son as it was to stop him. He was also glad of Xander's separation from him, knowing that Connor would not see any mercy from the young man. Angel wasn't sure whether Xander could actually take Connor in a fight, and was in no rush to find out, either.

As he moved into the room that held Buffy and Connor, the sound of whipping stopped. For a moment, he thought that he'd been discovered, only to hear his son's voice a moment later.

"Now I'm sure that you're tired of my asking this question, so if you simply give me the answer, we can stop this nastiness."

There was a pause, and then Angel heard what was probably the best sound he'd heard in quite some time.

"Go… To… Hell!"

Angel winced at the pained tone in Buffy's voice, and could only imagine the pain she'd been enduring. Although, it might actually have been like some of the things he'd been put through during his century or so in Acathla's dimension. Either way, he was proud that she had withstood whatever Connor had inflicted on her and was still has rebellious as ever.

"I will have you know that I was raised in a place that closely resembled what many humans believe Hell to be like, and I have to say that it was not as bad as you might think. Yes, there was the constant thought running through your mind that this moment might be your last, but it did make you appreciate the simple things in life."

"You're insane," Buffy spat, her tone no longer pained and instead overflowing with venom.

"You might be right, but that does not change the situation you currently find yourself in. Just in case you have forgotten the question, I shall be kind enough to repeat it to you: whom do you love above all others? It isn't a difficult question to answer, is it? All I ask for is a name; there is no need for you to wax lyrical over their grandeur or go into detail as to how you came to your decision. Just give me a name and this will all be over."

Angel was now in a position to make his presence known, but for some reason, he found himself rooted to the spot. Of all the questions he thought Connor might have asked Buffy, that was not one of them. Despite everything else that was going on, Angel found himself wanting - no, needing - to hear the answer.

Even after everything that had happened to him over the last three years, he could not deny the fact that the thought of Buffy loving someone else the way she had loved him gave him a very hollow feeling in the pit of his stomach. He knew it was unfair, both to her and to Cordelia, whom he did have strong feelings for, but he could not help the way he felt. Even with the guilt of his inaction bearing down on him, Angel stayed where he was and waited with metaphorically baited breath for Buffy's answer.

Xander had by now reached the platform and was waiting for the perfect time to strike when he had also been caught off guard by Connor's question. He, however, had not found himself paralysed by it.

While he would have dearly liked to hear her answer, especially if, however unlikely, the answer were him, nothing was more important to him right now than to release Buffy from her bonds. His problem lay in the fact that he could see no way he could release the bonds holding her in place and get her to safety.

If her were to cut the ropes holding her hands, she would drop to the floor and be no safer from Connor's advances, nor did he have any way to cut the ropes holding her feet from the position he was in. Neither option sat right with him and dearly hoped for a third, more promising, option to occur. His only hope was for Angel to cut the ropes on the floor so that he could pull Buffy up to the platform, effectively taking her out of the equation.

That didn't seem to be on the cards at present, though, as he could see Angel half hiding in the darkness, making no move to get even a millimetre closer. A sudden burst of anger flooded through him as he quickly deduced that the vampire was actually waiting on Buffy's answer before acting.

At a time when they were so close to achieving their goal, for Angel to suddenly find something more important than Buffy's life was in Xander's mind all the reason he needed to ensure that neither father nor son would survive the night.

His first reaction to Angel's inactivity was to take things into his own hands, but he quickly realised that he was too high up to be able to drop down on Connor and be able to land safely, or recover quickly enough to capitalise on the situation. Normally, that wouldn't stop him from doing it anyway, but with his back-up no longer trustworthy and Buffy's life in the balance, he had little choice but to err on the side of caution and allow the situation below him to play out.

Buffy was doing her best to draw out the situation, not only because it gave her body more time to heal, but also because she could see the increased annoyance in her captor's face. She was still in the dark as to just who he was or why he had captured her the way he had, but she had pretty much stopped caring soon after he had first started to torture her.

She did know one thing, which was he had a strange sense of honour and would not continue to hurt her until she had actually given her answer, nor would he try to forcibly extract the answer from her.

It was that which made her believe her captor was a sandwich short of a picnic. It hadn't exactly been a big leap of logic, given everything that had happened, but she hadn't exactly had much else to do the last few hours.

A flicker of motion above her caused her to instinctively glance up and found herself barely able to hold back the gasp of surprise and relief as she saw Xander hiding in the darkness. Had she been anyone else, of if he had been anyone else, she doubted that his presence would have been noticed, but she had and couldn't feel happier if she tried.

A moment later, her happiness disappeared and was replaced with fear; if her captor had bested her, what chance would Xander have? She hadn't meant that in a bad way, not the same manner she knew she had thought of him in the past, as she knew just how skilled Xander now was. She had actually spent the last few months training with him, using the excuse that he was helping with her training, and she had been surprised not only with the skill he possessed, but also with his strength and speed. She knew by the way her senses never reacted to his presence that there was nothing demonic or mystical that caused it, instead realising that it was due to almost six years of constant fighting against creatures that were many times faster and stronger than he was.

Despite her faith in his abilities, she still had doubts that he could defeat the young man standing before her, at least not without getting seriously injured or worse in the process. The thought of something happening to him sent a cold feeling through her heart and knew that she couldn't allow herself to be the cause.

She had the impression that, if she actually answered her captor's question, any plans he had on waiting on sunrise would vanish and her captor would end her life. The big problem was that she knew he would do it. There had been times in her life when she thought her life was at risk, but few occasions had such a feeling of certainty. Even when she had made that leap off the tower last year, she hadn't been certain that she'd die, but she knew without a shadow of a doubt that this devil with the face of an angel would snuff her out in a heartbeat.

If she said nothing, she knew that Xander's patience would come to an end and he would swoop down to rescue her, sacrificing himself in the process. If she gave him the answer he had been looking for, she would lose her life and hopefully ensure Xander kept his. She'd made up her mind before she'd even thought of the options.

"You want me to answer your question?" she asked.

"I do believe I have said things to suggest that, yes."

"Fine, I'll tell you. The one person I love above all others is…"

"Hey there, son, I've been looking all over for you."

While her captor had spun round to the source of the voice, Buffy had no such ability, but she knew exactly who it was. Another surge of relief went through her, but found herself surprised by how muted it felt in comparison to what she'd felt upon her first glance of Xander. It had, of course, been almost two years since she had seen her former boyfriend, the events of the day causing her to do something she didn't think she would have done under different circumstances, but her underwhelming feelings for his arrival came as something of a revelation, or more precisely a confirmation.

She had known for some time that, while Angel would always have a soft spot for him, her feelings toward him were now more for a friend or brother than as anything more romantic. Maybe not her brother, given some of the things she had done with him, she thought with a shudder, but most definitely as a friend.

Suddenly, Angel's words repeated themselves in her head and she suddenly felt overwhelmed. Had he just called the person who had been taking an inordinate amount of pleasure in inflicting pain on her semi-naked body his son? Surely, she must have misheard him.

"You simply gave a sperm sample as far as I am concerned, Angelus," her captor replied, proving that she had indeed heard correctly and that somehow her vampire former boyfriend had gotten himself an almost fully grown son. "My father was a loving, human man whom you killed out of jealousy. My only regret is that I could not have met my mother, Darla, as I would have enjoyed being the one to have removed that particular blight from the Earth."

Angel was worried, as Connor was acting far too rationally in his presence. He had hoped that his previous anger would work against him as it had back at the hotel, but it seemed that was no longer an option. He knew that Connor was as good a fighter as himself, with strength and speed equal to or greater than his, but it was his emotional state that was his greatest weakness.

As he had proven before, Connor tended to lash out when in anger and a more experienced fighter could easily take advantage of such a thing given the opportunity. With Connor acting so calmly in his presence, Angel knew he had his work cut out to defeat his son without inflicting or receiving serious or permanent injury. It didn't help that he was still not at 100 from his stay beneath the sea, or from the night's activities.

Angel could see Xander on the platform and knew that he had to cut the ropes holding Buffy's feet in place for him to pull her up to him, but to do that, he would need to get past Connor and that was now a far harder prospect.

"Now, Connor…"

"My name is not Connor; Connor is dead and has been for a long, long time. My name is Stephen Holtz and tonight I will be your death."

"You're not the first person to try and kill me."

"That I do not doubt for a second, but I will, however, be the last."

Father and son stared at one another for a beat longer before they leaped at each other.

Connor was surprised when, instead of attacking him, Angel somersaulted over his head and quickly made his way over to Buffy. After removing a blade from a sheath concealed in his sleeve, the vampire cut the rope holding her right leg. Before he had a chance to do the same to the rope holding her other leg in place, though, Connor tackled him and they both went down in a tumble of limbs.

Xander felt helpless as he watched the scene unfold below him, Connor and Angel both made it back to their feet quickly and began to trade blows. Buffy was no closer to being rescued and now Angel would find it even more difficult to sever the bond preventing him from pulling her to safety.

He did have a micro crossbow that he could use, but was unsure whether to use it on Connor or the rope. Either way would alert the teenaged hunter to his presence and he wasn't sure how the new information would affect the already unbalanced young man. Looking at his choices as either helping Angel or Buffy, he was quick to make up his mind.

He could see that, now she had a leg free, Buffy was trying whatever she could to try and loosen the bonds holding her, hoping that her wild thrashing would loosen the bonds that were still holding her. Xander knew that she was tenacious enough to keep at it until she succeeded or passed out from exhaustion, but also knew that even if she were making progress, it would take too long.

Doing his best to attract her attention without attracting anyone else's, he indicated for her to stay still and readied his crossbow. After taking a relaxing breath, he carefully took aim and once he was certain that he would hit the target, fired the crossbow and watched as the bolt did indeed make contact with the rope. His happiness was short lived, however, as he saw that the rope had not been cut clean through.

Buffy looked down as best she could and could actually feel that the rope had given a little and she used the little leverage and strength she had available to snap the rope. Xander quickly went over to the pulley device that held the ropes holding her arms and began to pull her up as quickly and quietly as possible.

As soon as she was on the platform and Xander had removed the ropes from her hands, Buffy flung her arms around him and hugged him with all her might. Although her ordeal had weakened her, she was still able to put a lot of strength into it and Xander soon began to see black spots before his eyes.

"Buff, release the grip a little, wouldya?" he asked, finding it difficult to catch his breath.

Buffy did as was asked, but had no intention as of yet to release him.

"Xander."

Xander tensed for a moment, as he had never heard her use that tone before, at least not when directed at him, and wasn't sure what to make of it. Being mindful of her injuries, he gently grabbed her hands and moved them from around his neck so he could lean back a little and look her in the eyes.

"Buffy?"

"AAARRRGGGHHH!!!"

The blood-curdling scream cut off any further conversation between the pair as it bounced around the walls of the warehouse. They both recognised the voice as coming from Angel, so they quickly made their way to the edge of the platform to see what was happening.

Both Connor and Angel were breathing hard, Angel, doing so more out of instinct than of necessity, but it was clear to see that the vampire was most definitely on the losing side of the fight. The biggest sign was the large, deep gash in his abdomen, so large, in fact, that his bowels were beginning to fall out from it.

Connor was standing above him, the blade Angel had used on Buffy's rope in his hand, dripping with his father's blood. The young man could see that the vampire was attempting to stand, so he brought his foot down with tremendous strength and speed onto his knee, and smiled in satisfaction at the loud crunch it made, not to mention its also causing his father to scream in agony once more.

"The last time I beat you," Connor said as he began to circle his father, "I made the foolish mistake of letting you live. I thought that no one would find you there on the ocean floor, but I underestimated the devotion of those that see you as something other than the hellish creature you truly are." During his walk, he had pulled out a stake from his belt. "I learn from my mistakes."

Before Angel could comprehend the meaning of Connor's words, he felt the stake penetrate his heart and only had time to gaze at his son's hate-filled face before turning to dust.

"Noo!!"

Connor spun round at the sound of Buffy's scream and became incensed when he saw she was no longer bound but instead on the platform above him with another man he didn't recognise. Remembering the blade he had in his hand, he quickly flipped it over and threw it at the blonde Slayer, whose impaired reflexes due to her prolonged immobilisation only allowed her time to partially avoid the projectile, catching it in her shoulder.

Still unsteady on her feet, she lost her balance and before Xander had a chance to catch her, fell to the ground. She landed as best she could, rolling through the fall, but she still badly twisted her left ankle.

Seeing Connor stalk towards his next victim, a sudden rage enveloped Xander and before he had a chance to think about it, he unsheathed MC Hammer from his back, grabbed the ropes that had held Buffy for so long and jumped off the platform. His momentum carried him over Buffy and towards his target, who suddenly realised that he no longer had any weapons.

Connor's face set as he realised his time was up, dying a moment later as Xander sent the head of his blessed sledgehammer through his skull like a cantaloupe, sending his blood and brain matter all over the warehouse.

Xander's fall stopped abruptly as the rope became taut; he had been unprepared for the sudden jarring and felt his shoulder pop out of place. He quickly lost his grip and fell to the floor, landing on his back, but luckily the fall was only a foot or so.

He grimaced as he managed to get to his feet, feeling the white hot pain in his shoulder, and made his way over to Buffy as quickly as he could.

"You alright?" he asked as he got to her.

"Oh I'm just peachy with a double side of keen. Didn't you know that knives were the latest fashion statement?"

"I must say it looks quite fetching on you, but I think it might be wise to remove it."

"Do you have any of that powder stuff?" she asked, grimacing in pain.

"A little. I had to use some myself a little earlier." He went to grab the knife with his damaged arm and yelped, although in a very manly way, he thought. "Damn it!"

"Xander, let me help with your shoulder, and then we'll deal with mine."

She barely waited for Xander's reply before grabbing his hand, placing her foot into his armpit and giving a sharp tug. She winced in sympathy at the bark of pain Xander let loose, but she had heard the 'pop' as the joint went back into place, so she didn't dwell on it.

"Thanks," Xander gritted out.

"No problem. Right, my turn."

"You're lucky I'm not a vindictive person, otherwise I might…" without warning, Xander pulled the blade out of her shoulder, knowing that he didn't want to leave it in there one moment longer than necessary.

"You could have warned me."

"You're right. I could have, but I didn't." He smirked at her for a moment before pulling out the two bags of powder. "Do you want me to do it?"

"No, I think you had too much fun pulling that knife out."

He pinned her with a look that froze her to the spot. "I would never consider seeing you in pain as fun, ever."

He handed over the bags, knowing that she wanted to do it herself, and watched as she administered the two powders to her wound. Once he could see that the pain had subsided, he thought now would be the best time to broach the subject of what just happened.

"I'm sorry about Angel."

Buffy's breath hitched at the reminder of her former beau's demise, but she surprised Xander by not crying. "I know you didn't like him," she said instead, managing a small smile at her extreme understatement.

"You're right, I didn't, but you loved him. I'm sorry for the pain his passing has caused."

"It's not quite sunk in yet. Anyway, this is neither the time nor the place to grieve. I want to go and watch the sunrise."

The sunrise made Xander remember the wound he received earlier in the night, and a slight melancholy expression appeared on his face. It looked like he wouldn't get a second chance to ask her out after all.

"Yeah, I hear this sunrise is going to be pretty memorable."

Sunnydale Beach,  
06:15 am.

Xander and Buffy had been sitting on the sand for the last hour, waiting to watch the first rays of sun to appear on the horizon. On the way there, they had contacted Dawn and let her know they were okay, as well as the fate of Angel. Xander made no mention of Gunn or Wesley, partly because he had nothing concrete to tell them, and knowing how Fred felt for Gunn felt that it wasn't something she should hear over the phone. He had, however, mentioned his belief to Buffy, who he felt deserved to know what became of those who had helped to find her.

During their wait, he had noticed Buffy's shoulders begin to shake and knew that the events of the night had finally gotten too much, so he gently put his arm around her shoulders and pulled her to him, feeling decidedly happy that she made no move to resist.

He had been exceptionally pleased that she had allowed herself to release her emotions like that, since a big part of her problems the last few years had been her unwillingness to show weakness in front of others. He knew that she had been making progress in that area, Dawn having told him of several heart to heart talks she and her sister had had, while making sure not to give details but simply give the broad strokes of the conversation, but she had yet felt comfortable enough to do the same in front of him.

Yes, they had talked out a lot of the issues that had been between them over the years, but they had done so in a civil, almost reserved manner, which given how quick to anger they both were, was an advantage. For her to allow herself to actually cry in his presence showed that she trusted him implicitly, something he only just realised had been missing in their relationship.

It was just a shame that he was going to be dead in about half an hour, he reflected, as this would have probably been the best time to broach the subject of furthering their relationship. Knowing that his time was short, he had considered confessing his feelings for her, but knew that to do so would be selfish in the extreme. To profess his love only to die minutes later would put undue emotional stress on her, and the last thing he would ever want to do is hurt her needlessly.

Suddenly, the moment they had been waiting for happened and they caught the first glimpse of the rising sun. That first glimpse was all the poison running through Xander's system needed to activate, and it took mere moments for the first burst of pain to rip through his body, causing his muscles to spasm.

Buffy could not have missed his body jerk the way it had if she'd tried, and quickly became concerned. "Xander, what's wrong?"

"The Kirsch brothers decided to pay a little visit to the theatre last night."

He wanted to explain further, but another painful spasm wracked his body, preventing him from doing so. His explanation wasn't necessary, though, as Buffy could quite plainly work out what had happened.

Tears formed in her eyes as the realisation set in. "Why didn't you say anything?" she asked, her voice trembling.

"I wanted to watch the sunrise with you," he managed to bite out, finding the pain less and less tolerable.

"Oh, Xander," she wept, knowing that there was nothing she nor anyone else could do for him right now. The moment his body relaxed, she gathered him into her arms, hot tears falling onto his shirt, as she found herself no longer able to hold them back. She then picked him up and began to make her way further onto shore as fast as her legs could carry them, leaving the beach and finding herself in a small wooded area she had not seen before.

"I'm sorry," she heard Xander mumble before another spasm began, causing her to stop and lay him down.

"What the hell do you have to be sorry for?" she cried.

"I'm sorry for leaving you. This might not be the first promise I've broken, but it is the one I most regret."

Buffy knew what he was talking about; he had once promised her that he would always be there for her, and while she knew it was a promise he couldn't hope to keep forever, it had still warmed her in a way nothing had before. She had to tell him how she felt before it was too late, as she could not bear for him to leave this mortal coil ignorant of her feelings for him. He deserved nothing less, and so, so much more.

"There's something I need to tell you Xander, something you have to know."

A sudden rumbling sound forced her to postpone her revelation, as the ground around them began to tremble and shake. Moments later, she shifted to high alert as a large 'ping' appeared on her Slaydar. It felt strangely familiar, but she couldn't quite recollect just when she had felt it before.

She could see the earth begin to shift around fifty feet away from their position, and was then shocked to see a large vine dome appear. Her focus shifted from the dome to Xander as yet another spasm rocked his body, and she held him tight to her in a vain attempt to lessen the effects. She felt his pain as keenly as though she were experiencing it herself, something she would gladly do to spare him from such a torment. She knew that he had gone through something similar before during her second 'sabbatical' from Sunnydale, and while he had survived due to the magical assistance of Willow, they had no such assistance now.

"I wouldn't be so sure of that."

Buffy's eyes snapped up to the source of the new voice, which sounded familiar and yet not, to see Willow standing -no, floating - before her. The last time she had seen her, Willow had looked sickly pale, and the time before that, dark and malevolent. Now, however, her eyes and hair were a forest green, and her expression was one of serenity.

Buffy watched as Willow approached them, and she had to fight down the impulse to pick Xander up and run. Her Slayer essence was going crazy, but if there was even the slightest chance that she could save Xander, then she would allow her to try. Once she was before them, Willow placed a hand on Xander's forehead.

"Be still, Xander; all will be well shortly."

That might not be as true as she made it sound, as Willow could already feel her powers fading. It seemed that by breaking her vow and using her powers without permission, she had forfeited her right to have them at all. Knowing she had little time, she began to pour her power, her very life energy, into her oldest and dearest friend instead of incanting the spell to remove the poison.

She could immediately feel her efforts working, the sheer purity of her essence purging Xander's system of the toxin, along with some other, less welcome changes. Xander may never forgive her for the changes she had wrought in his system, but given that she would not be around to find out, she did not give it much thought.

Once she could feel the last vestiges of the poison leave Xander's body, Willow used what little energy she had left to leave her mark on the world, transforming her very body into a large willow tree, whose branches may bend from time to time, but which will never, ever break.

Buffy helped the now healthy Xander to his feet and they gazed at what was left of their friend, tears falling down both of their faces. Their hands found their way towards one another, both seeking the security that they only seemed to feel in the other's presence.

After standing there for an unknown space of time, Xander turned and faced her. "We should make our way home. Dawn will be getting worried."

Buffy looked up at the man that meant so much to her, and found the same depth of emotion in his eyes that she was certain was in hers. She knew that what she had to say to him would not only be well received, but also returned in kind.

"Yeah, let's go home."

Both knew that the connotations of the last few hours would be with them for weeks and months to come, but as long as they had each other, there wasn't anything they could not overcome.

And of course, if they ever felt themselves waver, all they had to do was return to this spot.

The End


End file.
